Synopsis:
Set off on an exhilarating adventure across a part of America still rarely seen, deep into the raw and rambling, high-mountain roots of rock, bluegrass, folk and country music. This is the terrain...
Set off on an exhilarating adventure across a part of America still rarely seen, deep into the raw and rambling, high-mountain roots of rock, bluegrass, folk and country music. This is the terrain of "SONGCATCHER", a different kind of movie about music: part love story, part archive of America's most secret musical legacies. Academy Award-nominee and Tony Award and Golden Globe-winner JANET MCTEER stars as turn-of-the-century musicologist Dr. Lily Penleric, an unlikely heroine whose earthy, unstoppable drive leads her to musical, personal and romantic discoveries - as she uncovers remarkable songs, dances and beats of the heart in the Appalachian mountains.
The time is 1907. Lily Penleric, a woman ahead of her time, has just been passed over yet again for a university promotion, despite her academic achievements. Frustrated and determined to get the recognition she deserves, she heads to Appalachia, dragging an impossibly bulky, primitive recording device far into the hill country, with a plan to record music never heard before. There she joins her sister Elna (portrayed by Tony Award-winner JANE ADAMS), who runs a local schoolhouse - and quickly butts her head against the fiercely insular and protective mountain ways.
Here, the story takes a left turn into the wild-hearted culture of the Appalachian mountains, as Lily worms and wheedles her way into the world where American roots music was born, a place of hardscrabble farmers, daring, illegal bootleggers and palpable magic. Some of contemporary music's most exciting artists including IRIS DEMENT, TAJ MAHAL and HAZEL DICKENS also star, along with music by such legends as EMMYLOU HARRIS bringing to life the raw and transcendentally lyric ballads and tunes of Appalachia.
Under the shotgun-toting tutelage of local expert Viney Butler (played by Grammy and Emmy Award-winner and Tony Award-nominee PAT CARROLL) and the scarlet-throated orphan Deladis Slocumb (EMMY ROSSUM), Lily begins to learn about the local music and starts to record their haunting songs. But Lily cannot help but also become privy to the mountain people's struggles - from marital squabbles and run-away husbands to the community's fight to save their land from greedy coal companies. Not everyone in the hill-country is cooperative, including the rough local musician Tom Bledsoe (the acclaimed AIDAN QUINN), who accuses Lily - now known far and wide as "The Songcatcher" - of exploiting the locals. But as Tom comes to see Lily's strength and passion for the music, and Lily begins to feel Tom's deep loyalty for his people, mutual respect and romance blossom.
The fires are not confined to Lily's romantic life, though, and when disaster strikes hard at the very core of her mountain community and her own ambitions, Lily is faced with a choice: to remain an outsider forever or to join the musical, spirited community of the mountain people she has grown to admire.
Special Jury Prize-winner for Outstanding Ensemble Performance at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, "SONGCATCHER" features authentic vocal performances by the entire cast, as well as the earthy artwork of Elizabeth Ellison. -- © 2001 Lions Gate Entertainment
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