Troubadour Blues

Weber has done a great service to both the listeners and players of Folk/Rock/Americana/Singer-Songwriter music by making this film. For one thing, Peter Case deserves and has worked for wider recognition than he's gotten. At the same time, through his story and the stories of these other tireless troubadours, we get to see how little that wider recognition counts toward making an impact and a life that transcends all of that, and glorifies the Song and the effect of the Song on listeners and on our little corner of the world. Those small impacts can become big loud sounds of change: witness Pete Seeger's choice to teach folk songs to schoolchildren. They grew up to create the first "folk scare." A lot of these players in Weber's film teach songwriting, sowing seeds of another resurgence in the power of the Song.

I absolutely loved it. I was really surprised at exactly how it affected me. It was very emotional for me to hear these great musicians talking about writing and inspiration and playing and the road. It really made me realize just why I love music so much. My wife watched it with me and she loved it also. It really was an insight to her into the music and I think in some way it seemed to give her a little more insight into why I do what I do, let alone hearing some truly wonderful music. You really created a nice journey with this movie. You did an amazing job with this and I can't wait to see the new one! This film is like one of those rare gems that you stumble across only a few times in your life. This really is one to treasure.

I've never met Tom Weber, but if I did I'd give him a big hug...or at least a hearty handshake. He has made a very personal, warm and insightful behind-the-scenes look at the lives of traveling musicians. These artistic road warriors may never find the bright lights and huge paychecks of their arena-rocking counterparts, although they are just as worthy. The musicians profiled are the ones who travel and play for small to medium crowds in backwater towns because the music compels them forward. They have to play, they have to perform.

The film features a fine cast of singer-songwriters: Peter Case, Chris Smithers, Garrison Starr and many others. It is a rare person that can lay open their soul every night through music - regardless of crowd size or venue location or quality of sound system.

This is truly an insider's look at what it means to be included in the Troubadour breed...hopefully not a dying breed.

The face of independent music is very different from the "mainstream," and Tom Weber certainly has captured the essence of what it's like to be one of these performers in the 21st century. The blend of music and storytelling is exquisite in this film, and the subjects (some of the most famous people you've never heard of) are perfectly "cast." Weber has captured their vulnerability ("You're exhausted for a living") without eliciting our pity; rather, the performers come across as true heroes. I mean, how is is possible that Garrison Starr isn't a household name? I love the idea of this project, and I'm crazy about the final product.

The days of the troubadour may be numbered, but at least we have this fine document of the calling's modern incarnation. This is a tale lovingly and movingly told, with excellent insight into the life of those who follow the troubadour's muse.

For all the talk these days of how hard life is for a musician, how hard it is to make a living at music, one has to wonder the degree to which what is meant by such protestations is that it is hard to make a killing at it. This documentary does a wonderful job of showing how hard some musicians struggle just to get by, but regardless of the difficulty they are compelled to keep traveling, making music, playing in front of audiences, small though the audience numbers may be. In some ways this is a great antidote to commercial notions of stardom. The artists portrayed here are stars in their own right, and bring light and inspiration to others in important, intimate ways that cannot, and perhaps should not, be commercially mediated.

This film is a real treat, and I hope the filmmaker will follow up on it, perhaps even following up with the same artists some years down the road. And let's hope those artists receive enough encouragement, and compensation, to be making music still down that road.