String Theory Media

Hold on tight to your dreams, and your instrument

The story of Philippe Quint this past week was a study in how badly things can go wrong despite obsessive care and very high stakes. Quint is a concert violinist who briefly lost his $4 million Stradavarius when a cab driver, unaware that he was not finished unloading, drove away from Quint's New York apartment. Daniel Wakin writes in today's Times about why this happens and how musicians dread it. Most of these stories have a happy ending. Quint gave a solo concert for the cab drivers at their dispatch center as a thank you for returning the violin.

Eddy Arnold on NPR

I learned upon arriving at the office yesterday that Eddy Arnold had died, one week shy of his 90th birthday. By day's end we'd assembled this story for All Things Considered about the most successful charting artist in country music history. He had an amazing life capped off by a 66-year marriage to Sally. I never heard anything but glowing words about both of them. Eddy will be missed.

Sierra Hull's debut

Tennessee mandolin starlet Sierra Hull held a nice album release party at ASCAP in Nashville yesterday afternoon. Her debut on Rounder Records, entitled Secrets is a validation of all the hopes her fans have had for her since she emerged as a prodigious, contest-winning musician in her very early teens. Many of those fans are among the elite in bluegrass, including Alison Krauss. We got to produce this video bio of Sierra that shows her trying to balance the life of a normal 16-year-old high school junior with her new career as an in-demand touring and recording artist. She's a super person too, and we wish her the best of luck.

News: Anne and Trey

Things are getting done around the STM offices like never before thanks to the addition of shooter/editor/point guard Anne Cates (bio HERE). About a month ago, Anne began her String Theory adventures by joining me for a trip to Byrdstown Tennessee to shoot interviews and documentary material for our video bio of Rounder recording artist Sierra Hull, and then she did a great job on the edit, which we'll have up shortly. Now she's tearing through a web mini-series introducing the new (June 10) album from the Infamous Stringdusters.

Up next is one of our most exciting projects yet. Orchestra Nashville, the most innovative ensemble in Music City, is about to launch a five-month online experience with former Phish singer and guitarist Trey Anastasio. And we are producing the behind-the-scenes documentary content that will let fans witness Trey as he composes and stages the most ambitious work of his career. Most folks don't know it but Trey was a composition major in college and he built many of Phish's best stuff with charts and notation that would be beyond the abilities of most rock stars. I just got back from a visit to Phish's famous barn in Burlington, VT where we filmed Trey recording the song "Time Turns Elastic" that will be the basis for the fully orchestrated work, which will be premiered in Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium in September. Keep checking for updates. The project is set to go live next week.

Film Fest Music Docs Report

I caught two of the music documentaries at the Nashville Film Festival over the weekend, one destined to be a classic and perhaps even a box office success, the other a missed opportunity for Nashville.

I can’t recommend “Young @ Heart” highly enough...

Talking Rural Pennsylvania Blues

A rare and remarkable confluence of bluegrass and presidential politics occurred this week when, in the midst of the pre-Pennsylvania primary, Barack Obama vs. Hillary Clinton “bittergate” brouhaha, an advance recording by Del McCoury and his sons came my way. Without endorsing any candidate or party, the album called Moneyland speaks to the same issues Obama was explaining. It’s a more artful expression of those ideas than Obama’s, who was speaking off the cuff and not with his usual precision. But McCoury, one of my musical heroes, is stepping forward boldly with a message that sounds exactly like what Obama (whom I continue to support incidentally) was trying to say.

To recap...

"Infamy" Screens April 23

"Four Days of Infamy," STM's road documentary about the Infamous Stringdusters is set to screen as part of a three film block at the Nashville Film Festival called "Diggin' Your Roots" at 4 p.m. on April 23 at the Regal Cinema Green Hills. Also on the bill are films about the Jayhawks' Mark Olson and famed Vanderbilt DJ Ken Berryhill. If you've never been to the festival, do yourselves a favor. It's an amazing good time, and we certainly hope to see you at our screening.

Catching Up, and Moving Out

I haven't posted news in ages but not because there's not news. We've been crazed actually. We're finishing edits on a new video bio piece about the precocious and super-talented Sierra Hull, a favorite of Alison Krauss and many other bluegrass stars who've noticed her talents on mandolin and on the microphone. Her debut album comes out on Rounder Records on May 10.

We've also been privileged to be in the studio for recent shoots of album tracking sessions by songwriter and Americana star Darrell Scott and mad fiddle scientist Casey Driessen. Scott's album, recorded in his home, leans heavily country with Hargus "Pig" Robbins on piano. We're figuring out what to do with remarkable footage of Darrell and his dad Wayne dueting on a song they wrote together years ago. Casey tracked his new album just off Music Row with bassist Viktor Krauss, drummer Matt Chamberlain and, coincidentally, Darrell Scott on all kinds of instruments. And then there was a trip to shoot the Infamous Stringdusters in Chicago. And the Waybacks at 3rd & Lindsley in Nashville. We're also finishing a promotional piece about Orchestra Nashville and prepping an amazing project about which more to come. On top of this on the home front we sold our house after much repair and painting and bought a new one. Which means String Theory Media will soon move into slick new space in a finished garage near the 12 South neighborhood. Stay tuned for more.

Sad But True

William Weir nails it in a Slate article about the absurd and unnecessary death of the instrumental pop hit. The amazing statistic:

From 1960 to 1974, 128 instrumentals reached the Top 20, while only 30 did from 1975 to 1990. And since? Five.

I've thought about this a lot because I'm an instrumental guy living in a song town. The only thing more amazing than the power music has over the heart and mind is the dwindling number of opportunities to hear instrumental music.

Wier writes:

I understand the appeal of the human voice, and I certainly can't begrudge anyone's joy at singing along in the car (unless I'm in it). But why such shabby treatment for the instrumental? Marketability.

Exactly. Because for twenty years the music business hasn't been selling music as much as it's been selling celebrity. When people don't hear instrumental music they forget how to listen to it, or they never learn.

Four Days of Infamy at the Nashville Film Fest!

Best news of the week: My documentary about the Infamous Stringdusters, "Four Days of Infamy" has been accepted for a showing at the Nashville Film Festival, which runs at the Regal Cinema Green Hills April 17 to 24. It follows one of the most exciting bands in America on a short tour through Colorado, where the boys contemplate the differences between Southeast and Colorado bluegrass and discover what kind of band they really are. We'll post screening time information as soon as we get it. Here's part one of the film as seen on YouTube, but we hope you'll join us to watch Four Days on the BIG SCREEN!