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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Old Time Music Documentary Has
Surprisingly Wide Appeal
Floyd, VA.
After a year in
production, Horse Archer Productions has released a much anticipated
documentary about the Old Time music and culture of Appalachia called
Why Old Time? that is getting attention in some surprising
places.
In just three weeks of internet sales
from their website (www.whyoldtime.com), Horse Archer Productions has
sold copies
in every state of the union, plus sales in Canada, England,
Ireland, France, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Australia, Finland and
even Japan.
“When we started this documentary, we
began by asking why so many people in the 21st Century were
drawn to music that often dates back before the Civil War,”
“When we started this documentary we
began asking why so many people in the 21st Century were
drawn to music that was old 100 years ago,” said Chris Valluzzo,
co-producer and co-director of the full length feature documentary,
noting that some of the most played tunes originated before the Civil
War.
In other words, the producers had been
thinking largely about the appeal of the music across time rather than
geographically.
”When production began I met a few
people in the scene from Europe and Japan,” Valluzzo added. “But I
don’t think I really understood how far reaching and diverse it is
until we were a few months into production.”
As the team traveled through the
mountains of Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee,
they started to get a sense of the far reaching impact of the music
outside the region.
Since much of the filming took place at
fiddler’s conventions and organized events, the crew frequently found
themselves interviewing people who had traveled anywhere from a few
miles to a few thousand miles just to play with friends.
“That is a big part of the whole
experience,” said co-producer and co-director Sean Kotz.
“What sets this music and experience
apart from the highly commercial experience of most popular music is
the fact that there is not really a line between audience and musician
because they tend to be one in the same.”
In the age of American Idol and
massive corporate control over the concert experience, Old Time
fiddler’s conventions are distinct because they are places people
gather to swap tunes, sit-in on jams and camp out.
Valluzzo believes this is as much a
part of the appeal as anything else.
“When you go to an Old Time gathering,”
said Valluzzo, “you find people who have planned their whole year
around the event.”
“That’s because being part of the
community is so important to them, which is something you can’t get
from buying an overpriced ticket and standing in the middle of a
screaming crowd for two hours.”
According to the directing team, this
sense of community is probably the real answer to the question, “why
Old Time?” Over and over again, they have heard from buyers that this
is a critical aspect of the film’s success.
” I totally agree that this music is
about playing together,” said
Jesper Deleuran,
a viewer from Denmark.
“It’s about literally sitting knee to
knee and playing for and with each other, and not for performing for
an audience.”
The film is getting the same reaction
in the United States.
According to Valluzzo, they have gotten
a great deal of mail thanking them for doing the film and commenting
that it captures the experience faithfully.
“That is really rewarding,” Valluzzo
said, noting that the people inside the community are likely to be the
harshest critics if the film was not on the mark.
Why Old Time? is Horse
Archer Productions’ third feature documentary and they feel their
experience with their first film, 2007’s Hokie Nation, was
incredibly valuable in their more recent production.
Horse Archer also released The Henry
Reed Legacy on DVD in June. That film documents the life and
impact of Giles County Old Time fiddler, Henry Reed, and compliments
Why Old Time?
The Henry Reed Legacy
has also sold well overseas, said Kotz.
“Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised, but
it is always a bit of a kick to see an order come in from across the
globe for a film about a local musician.”
Both films are available at
www.whyoldtime.com and
www.horsearcherproductions.com.
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Until his death in 1968, Giles County, Virginia, fixture Henry Reed was
quietly going about a life built around family, tradition and Old Time
music. Henry was instrumental in the revival of interest in this
musical form, becoming the subject of serious academic study by scholar,
Dr. Alan Jabbour. Today, Chris Via, also of Giles preserves the
living tradition of Reed's style with the Giles Mountain String
Band and the Henry Reed Festival each June.