Heartworn Highways

Ends Thursday, March 11th

(USA / 1981 / Directed by James Szalapski)

Sometimes a documentary maker is present at precisely the right moment to capture lightning in a bottle. Shot in 1975 but not released until 1981, James Szalapski’s documentary does just that, offering brilliant portraits of Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Steve Young, David Alan Coe, and a young Steve Earle as it captures the nascent stages of the outlaw country scene.

Traveling between Texas and Tennessee, Szalapski documented these artists as they were actively crafting a new style. Inspired by country music’s roots in folk and bluegrass, and characterized by an edge that was missing from mainstream Nashville at the time, the sound they produced was magnetic. Musical highlights include Clark’s brilliant “Desperados Waiting for a Train,” Young’s stirring “Alabama Highways,” and Van Zandt’s emotional “Waiting Around to Die.” The hard living – and hard partying – lifestyles of the movement’s figureheads are played out on screen as the camera films Van Zandt at home in his Austin trailer, Coe playing a show at Tennessee State Prison, the crew at Nashville’s notorious Wig Wam Tavern, and a liquor-fueled Christmas at Clark’s house. With an original tagline that reads, “The best whiskey and the best music come from the same part of the country,” Heartworn Highways is brilliant to listen to and impossible to turn away from as it captures a key moment in country music history.

Unrated / 1 hr 32 mins.