An evening that’s sure to be of huge interest to London-based lovers of music documentaries and Americana music is a live recreation of the cult film, Heartworn Highways. Set in the unique and intimate surrounds of Wilton’s, the oldest grand music hall in the world, the evening on the 2nd of August will feature performances from 13 artists, including The Magic Numbers, Ren Harvieu (Bella Union), and Zak Hobbs (grandson of Fairport Convention’s Richard Thompson).
As preparation for this keynote event, the acts have been involved in many late night jams at two of London’s best known independent music venues, The Betsey Trotwood in Farringdon and Camden’s Green Note. This musical collective were drawn together through a mutual love and respect for the music made by the artists that appear in James Szalapski’s docu-film, Heartworn Highways.
The evening will comprise two sets of live music as the featured artists perform a mixture of original material and re-imaginings of songs by Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell, David Allan Coe, Gamble Rogers, Steve Young, members of the Charlie Daniels Band, and Steve Earle, who was twenty years old at the time the film was made.
Heartworn Highways offers an insight into an organic scene of outcast musicians working in Nashville and Austin in the mid 1970s when country music was starting to become more corporate in nature. Many of these so-called ‘outlaw country’ musicians were fairly unknown when the film was made, and yet went on to become recognised as some of the greatest songwriters of their generation – Guy Clarke, Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle and Rodney Crowell, to name a few. Heartworn Highways is renowned for being as influential for the ‘Americana’ genre as Martin Scorsese’s film about The Band, The Last Waltz.
The Artists involved with this project are:
Romeo Stodart (The Magic Numbers)
Michele Stodart (The Magic Numbers)
Angela Gannon (The Magic Numbers)
Zak Hobbs (Songwriter and guitar virtuoso)
Patrick Ralla (Guitarist with The Hanging Stars, The Rockingbirds & Edwyn Collins)
Laura Tenschert (Singer-songwriter and presenter of the Definitely Dylan radio show)
Robert Chaney (Singer-songwriter)
Ren Harvieu (Singer-songwriter)
Felix Holt (of Felix Holt and the Radicals – singer-songwriter from north London)
Josh Flowers (of Josh Flowers and the Wild – a London based blues and folk based four-piece)
Louis Brennan (London based singer-songwriter from Dublin)
Naomi Larsson (Singer-songwriter and founder of women’s music collective Sister Rosetta’s)
Joe Harvey-Whyte (virtuoso pedal steel player)
Heartworn Highways: A Live Tribute, will be held at Wilton’s Music Hall, Graces Alley, E1 8JB, on Friday 2nd August 2019. Tickets are available from the venue website here.
