Honeydripper
A lot of ink has been spilled by music writers about what deserves to be considered the ‘first rock and roll song’. I’ve always felt that the beginning of any new spirit or style in the world- in sports, art, religion, politics- makes for an interesting story. Who jumps aboard the new thing right away and who decides, no thanks, I’m sticking with what I know? What is the cost when you make either decision? HONEYDRIPPER takes place in the little crossroads town of Harmony, Alabama, in 1950. Blues singers still sit outside the drugstores, playing for pennies, the jukebox has room for big bands, jump combos like Louis Jordan’s, country and proto-rockabilly stars like Hank Williams, Perry Como style crooners and perky novelty songs, while gospel is the most commonly listened-to live music. But technology is about to intrude. The guitar player, relegated to sideman on the bandstand, is about to plug his ax in. And once the guitar can wail and slide with the same volume as the horns or piano– watch out. In the movie Gary Clark Jr., a guitar prodigy out of Austin, plays Sonny Blake, conjuring up the spirit of Ike Turner, T Bone Walker, Johnny Watson and countless others who pushed the music forward when they got electrified, and Danny Glover plays Pinetop Purvis, an itinerant boogie-woogie piano player who has made his stand by buying the Honeydripper Lounge and presenting the music he’s absorbed in his own life, up-to-the-moment or not. He is haunted by his past and resistant to the future, and suddenly this good-looking kid rolls into town carrying a guitar with no hole in it—
(more…)
