Man in the Sand | |
---|---|
Directed by | Kim Hopkins |
Produced by |
Juliet De Valero Wills, Christopher Frederick |
Starring |
Billy Bragg Jeff Tweedy John Stirratt Jay Bennett Ken Coomer Nora Guthrie Corey Harris Natalie Merchant |
Narrated by | Nora Guthrie |
Edited by | Simon Ardizzone |
Distributed by | BBC |
Release date
|
1999 |
Running time
|
89 min. |
Language | English |
Man in the Sand is a 1999 music documentary that chronicles the collaboration between Billy Bragg and Wilco, which involved the musicians creating new music to accompany lyrics that were written decades earlier by folk singer Woody Guthrie. The project, which was organized by Woody's daughter Nora, spawned three albums: Mermaid Avenue, released in 1998; Mermaid Avenue Vol. II, released in 2000, and Mermaid Avenue Vol. III, released in 2012.
The film begins with Bragg in Guthrie's original hometown of Okemah, Oklahoma, and follows along as Bragg travels to other Guthrie haunts in Texas, California, and finally, New York. Much of the documentary is also spent at the recording sessions in Chicago (December 1997) and Dublin, Ireland (January 1998). Most of the tracks from both albums were recorded at these sessions.
The following songs appear in the film (in order of performance):
Five "bonus" tracks were also included on the DVD
(Words by Guthrie and music by Bragg.)