I have seen only the trailer but it looks interesting as it features numerous artists like James Taylor, Carole King, Kris Kristofferson, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Rait, Steve Martin, Joni Mitchell,… and also the famous old Doug Weston’s Troubadour club on Santa Monica boulevard in LA, which was so essential to the music scene at this time. Everybody played there starting with Elton John who played once in the small club and became a star overnight.
Los Angeles has always been very involved with music, my neighborhood is filled with musicians wannabe and famous artists, but the 70s music scene saw an explosive singer-songwriter movement who suddenly shifted from political songs in the 60s to intimate ones with personal lyrics in the 70, a sort of hangover after a climactic anarchy.
The documentary shows historic footages, interviews and rare performances, but focuses on Carole King and James Taylor, as the project was born from their reunion after 40 years at the Troubadour.
The film tries to explore what was so special about that time, about this community of musicians who inspired each other, and about this fertile period which changed music everywhere.
Like it is said in the movie, ‘the bedroom was Laurel Canyon, the living room was the Troubadour, marijuana was the church’.
The 2011 Sundance Film Festival is taking place from January 20 to January 30 in Park City, Utah.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2tfuVD-O2E&w=500&h=390]