The Road to Nashville

This movie was a Big Deal when it came to the drive in in Long Beach CA. Lots of happy viewers. We had heard the musicians on records but it was so nice to be able to see them.

This a a really fun little slice of 1966 Nashville, great for those of us who like that stuff--some greats at various stages, and a family act that makes me think the rural methamphetamine craze might have started earlier than we thought. But there is also a true gem here. Before bringing out Johnny Cash for a gospel song and another little tune (a real disappointment when you think of what they could have used in this spot--'Ring of Fire' comes to mind), the Carter Family women, June, Anita, Helen, and Mother Maybelle, do a version of 'Walk the Line.' The song itself is a beautiful treat, but June's and Johnny's comments afterward, during this time a couple of years before they married, show some interesting emotion. June's words could be taken to slightly deride the song they've just performed.

I'm doubting that we're going to get a better DVD of this, and it's too bad. The source material is presented from a crappy looking (and sounding) 16MM television syndication print, and the movie itself was originally presented in nice, wide Cinemascope. The lack of widescreen is blatantly obvious here, as the cinematography is all over the place, as is the pathetically primitive panning and scanning. Now grant it, this film was never out to win any "that sho' is purty!" awards, but this print looks like poop. Combine that with some HORRIBLE DVD Compression artifacts, and you're sure to figure out that you've got a long way to go to get to high def here.

Good thing the content is what it is. RTN was one of a series of "jukebox" movies which were being pumped out of Nashville in the 60's, and these films, while rare to see nowadays, give us great looks into the time that was 1960's-era Nashville. You see vintage acts that were being pushed aside by Chet Atkin's and Owen Bradley's Countrypolitan style which was hot at the time, and you see up-and-comers who are obviously here to get any break they can.

Great clips here are a couple of performances by Connie Smith (although that gold suit she has is a tad, well...dated), Johnny Cash and the Carter Family (showing Johnny in the midst of his downward drug-fueled spiral, but still good enough to pull it off musically), and a young very-pre-outlaw Waylon Jennings doing "Anita".

Even the lesser acts are worth it, like Porter Wagoner's Pre-Parton "Girl Singer" Norma Jean doing "I Wouldn't Buy A Used Car From Him", and The Stoneman Family song "Tupelo County Jail" in stage outfits that look somewhere between the lines of The New Christy Minstrels crossed with Laugh-In. (Both of the above mentioned tunes were minor hits around the time this flick was shot, although the DVD didn't even bother to hunt down the actual title to the Stoneman's tune, giving it the cop-out title of "Write Me A Letter").

If you can get passed the cheap bargain-bin quality of the DVD, the music makes it worth every penny.

Movie studio head Richard Arlen sends Doodles Weaver to Nashville to Nashville to choose acts for the country music movie they're making next week. Lots of stars lip-sync to their hits, form the Stoneman Family to the Carter Family -- who owe a lot of their success to Pop Stoneman discovering them -- who sing "I Walk the Line" and then back up Johnny Cash on a spiritua --l to contemporary acts like Connie Smith. Wherever the songs were actually recorded, about half of the 38 songs are about adultery, and almost every performance has a lot of echo.

The quality of the performances are pretty good, echo aside, and there's some fine banjo picking, and even an electric mandolin. At over 100 minutes, that's too many C&W songs for me, but fans of the genre will be pleased.

Road to Nashville is to all intents and purposes a showcase for a selection of country music stars with an extremely flimsy plot that merely takes us from A to B allowing for song after song to be performed. For what it's worth, the story has Doodles Weaver being sent to Nashville to recruit musicians and singers to star in an upcoming movie about country music. But as I say, this is a virtually plot less affair which is aimed squarely at fans of this type of music.

I'm not really much of a fan of the genre myself, so much of the songs I didn't get too much out of. But there were some that did standout for me. The Carter Family sing a song synonymous with Johnny Cash, namely 'Walk the Line', only to then be joined by him for an emotional number entitled 'Were You There'. In this segment his future wife June Carter talks a little between the numbers too. But perhaps the real standout for me was a group I had hitherto never even heard of, The Stoneman Family. They knock out three numbers and the two women in the group easily provide the most energy and distinctive performances in the whole film. Their first song is a crazy up-tempo workout with a pretty maniacal mandolin being played in almost free-style by one of the women; in their final number the other girl takes over and knocks out some serious banjo action while maintaining an intentionally deadpan face the whole time. So, The Stoneman Family? Yeeha!

This film is ultimately a real treat for country and western fans, especially of the mid 60's variety. Some of these artists were very rarely filmed playing their songs, so it serves as a pretty cool document in that sense too. It's not in all honesty really aimed at someone like me who is pretty lukewarm on the genre but I still did get a kick out of some of it nevertheless.