On the heels of her successful music documentary, The Winding Stream – The Carters, the Cashes and the Course of Country Music, filmmaker Beth Harrington is pleased to announce that she and her team are in pre-production on a new project. The Musicianer will be a music-based narrative digital series that builds on the research done on old-time music during the making of the The Winding Stream, and takes the subject matter in new and surprising directions.
The Musicianer tells the story of a 1920s-era singer who inadvertently becomes immortal. The series follows him as he moves back and forth in time trying to sort out who he is and what happened to him. He’s aided in this quest by an intrepid team of modern-day musicologists.
The film features the break-out roots musician Petunia of the band Petunia and the Vipers. Petunia is well-known on the Americana circuit for his captivating song-writing, charismatic singing and haunting “man out of time” stage presence.
Says Harrington of the project, “I created the series with Petunia in mind. We’d met while I was finishing my last film The Winding Stream and the idea of a musician “unstuck” in time seemed perfectly suited to the mysterious vibe he projects on stage. And this projects builds on the work done on The Winding Stream – the research, outreach and contacts. It seemed like a logical next step for me filmically even though it’s somewhat of a stylistic departure.”
Shooting will begin in mid-June in the Portland/Vancouver area, along with a month- long Kickstarter campaign starting April 27th with lots of great rewards for backers. On May 11, a special roll-out event will take place at the Brickstone Ballroom at 105 Evergreen Street, Vancouver WA. Harrington’s team and cast members will be on hand to talk about the film, Petunia and the Vipers will play a set of their inimitable music, beer, wine and snacks will be served and special prizes will be awarded to lucky attendees.
Tickets are $20 and are available online at www.TheMusicianer.com
About Beth Harrington
Beth Harrington is a filmmaker, writer and musician born in Boston and transplanted to the Pacific Northwest. Her films always reflect a great love of music, history and popular culture. Her last film,The Winding Stream is one such effort and earned numerous film festival awards including several Best Documentary awards, a Best Music Film award and an Audience award. Her film Welcome to the Club about the pioneering women of rockabilly was honored with a 2003 Grammy nomination. She is also a rock & roll musician, most noted her years as a member of Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers.
About The Winding Stream
Representing more than a decade of work, The Winding Stream – The Carters, the Cashes and the Course of Country Music premiered at the 2014 SXSW film festival and went on to screen at more than 30 festivals worldwide. Following the film festival circuit tour, it played at over 80 movie houses in North America to great critical and audience response. It is now available on Netflix (streaming and DVD), Amazon, iTunes, Google+ and numerous other digital platforms and on the official Winding Stream website: www.thewindingstream.com
What Critics Are Saying About The Winding Stream –
“Rocker-turned-documentarian Beth Harrington (Welcome to the Club: The Women of Rockabilly) celebrates the Carter and Cash family and its enduring contributions to country, folk and roots music in The Winding Stream, an impressively researched and deftly crafted feature that doubtless will find an appreciative audience…”
– Joe Leydon, Variety
NYT Critics’ Pick: “ Thoughtfully assembled to showcase the music and the temperaments behind it, this jam-packed oral history of the Carter and Cash families weaves the voices of prominent musicians … with those of family members past and present. Leading us from Poor Valley, Va. …through decades of personal and professional landmarks, Ms. Harrington sweeps divorce, disappointment and the Great Depression into a single, upbeat package.
– Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times
“A SXSW Best of Fest Music Film – Beth Harrington digs deep into both the family’s legacy and the first-couple-of-country union of June Carter and Johnny Cash.”
– David Fear, Rolling Stone