“Heartworn Highways” • Film Screening and Conversation • 2025
Featured
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56m
Following a screening of “Heartworn Highways,” the film’s producer, Graham Leader, sits down for an in-depth interview about the music documentary fifty years after its making. This program was moderated by the Museum’s Paul Kingsbury and recorded live on May 17, 2025.
At the outset of the conversation, Leader shares how the documentary came together thanks to writer-director James Szalapski’s vision and a trip to Nashville to see Guy Clark perform at Exit/In. He offers insight into and context around multiple notable scenes, including waking up Larry Jon Wilson at a motel when he was late to shoot the film’s opening sequence, recording Guy Clark fixing an acoustic guitar in his legendary workshop, and filming David Allan Coe performing for inmates at a state penitentiary. Leader also describes the crew’s discreet, fly-on-the-wall approach to filming, which created a comfortable environment for the musicians.
Additionally, the conversation covers the film’s distribution and marketing struggles and why Leader feels that, as a result, “Heartworm Highways” is a hidden gem waiting to be discovered by newer generations of musicians. The program concludes with Jubal Lee Young, son of Steve Young, performing intimate renditions of his father’s songs “Alabama Highway” and “Seven Bridges Road.”
“Heartworn Highways” takes a close look at the up-and-coming songwriters and artists who were expanding the sounds and lyrical traditions of country music in the 1970s. Filmed in Texas and Tennessee, the documentary film reveals a community driven to create groundbreaking music. In addition to Clark, Coe, Wilson, and Young, the featured artists include Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle, Barefoot Jerry, the Charlie Daniels Band, Rodney Crowell, and Gamble Rogers.
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