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Love of bluegrass is a life-long thing, and one implication of that is you’ll follow favorite artists over decades. So when I see vintage video of, say, the Del McCoury Band from 2000, I can put myself in the times and places I saw them in that era and realize how much we’ve all changed since. But that’s nothing compared to the time machine wonder of the documentary Bluegrass Country Soul, which is for my money the most mind-blowing, transfixing, surprising, important and entertaining movie about bluegrass ever made.
We’re transported to Camp Springs, NC in 1971, where we see heroes, the living and the late great, almost unrecognizably young. There’s Sam Bush with long wavy hair and no beard, killing it with the Bluegrass Alliance, the band that would soon transform into New Grass Revival. And picking with him is Tony Rice, so young he has acne and a starter teen-stache, playing his last gig with the band as well as his first gig with J.D. Crowe, a historic collaboration. There’s Doyle Lawson, also pre-beard, playing mandolin with the Country Gentlemen, all in hot pink shirts, making ineffable magic on the totally weird and wonderful mountain climbing song “Matterhorn.” (Yes there’s a bluegrass classic that celebrates Europe.) There’s Jimmy Martin, resplendent in his plaid cowboy hat and dinner jacket, and there’s Ralph Stanley as a middle aged man performing with his young mentees Ricky Skaggs and Keith Whitley. Del McCoury is about 42 years old, with his signature pompadour and mutton chop sideburns.
Every frame is lovingly shot. The sound is great. You are there.
BGCS is on my mind because the Washington Post recently published Eddie Dean on the film and its story on the occasion of a 50th anniversary re-master and re-issue in box set form. It’s a big old commitment at $145, but it’s also an abundant package with a coffee table book and bonus material. My copy is a Time/Life edition from some years back, but word is that it’s out of print. So I reached out to the filmmaker’s website and they wrote straight back with the deal:
The re-issue of Bluegrass Country Soul is a passion project that we are running out of our home. Right now, the only way to purchase the movie is to buy the deluxe box set. We created it to help us pay for the restoration of the movie and could not have accomplished the restoration without the support of our sponsors (whose names are in the end credits of the new version).
At some point, currently unknown, we will release the combo pack with a Blu-ray and standard DVD, plus the Bonus Disc. The best way for folks to hear about this is to sign up for our newsletter (the form is at the bottom of the page).
Still more about the documentary and why it came to be is here, in a Bluegrass Situation interview from July with filmmaker Albert Ihde.
Here’s an official making-of mini-doc posted by the filmmakers…