From: Santa Barbara Theater
P.O. Box 23211, Santa Barbara, CA 93121
(805) 963-7282
Albert Ihde

WEST COAST PREMIERE OF BLUEGRASS FILM
WILL BENEFIT THE SANTA BARBARA THEATRE

Peter Feldmann & The Very Lonesome Boys will perform on stage
 
On Thursday, March 9th at 8:00 PM, the Lobero Theatre will feature the sights and sounds of an historic bluegrass music festival. It is the West Cost Premiere of BLUEGRASS COUNTRY SOUL, starring Earl Scruggs, Ralph Stanley, Jimmy Martin, the Osborne Brothers, and many others. Peter Feldmann and The Very Lonesome Boys will perform on stage before the film. All proceeds will benefit the Santa Barbara Theatre, a new, professional theatre company, which is celebrating its First Anniversary.

BLUEGRASS COUNTRY SOUL was produced and directed by Albert Ihde, the founder of the Santa Barbara Theatre. Time Life Music has recently announced that it will release the film on DVD this summer.

Filmed at Carlton Haney´s Labor Day Weekend Bluegrass Music Festival near Reidsville, North Carolina in 1971, the 35-mm documentary captured such memorable performances as Ralph Stanley singing "I´m a Man of Constant Sorrow" (heard in O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?), Earl Scruggs playing "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" (used in BONNIE AND CLYDE) and the Bluegrass 45 from Japan playing "Dueling Banjos" (featured in DELIVERANCE).

Peter Feldmann´s most recent CD, "Grey Cat on the Tennessee Farm" has been named one of the top ten bluegrass CDs of 2005 by the Chicago Tribune

BLUEGRASS COUNTRY SOUL features an appearance by country music legend, Roy Acuff. Other notables in the film are Chubby Wise, the Lilly Brothers, the Country Gentlemen, Del McCoury, Mac Wiseman, and the Bluegrass Alliance. There is even a bluegrass version of "Love Potion #9" by the New Deal String Band.
Tom Zito, film critic for the Washington Post, in reviewing BLUEGRASS COUNTRY SOUL wrote: "It is filled with good music, good photography, and interesting people. But above all else it is delightfully enjoyable to watch."

The Director of Photography was ROBERT KAYLOR, noted independent documentary filmmaker and director of CARNY, DERBY, and NOBODY´S PERFECT. Sound was by John Dildine, a respected veteran of the documentary scene. The film was edited by JOEL JACOBSON. It was produced by the Washington Film Group.  "The film had its origins in live theatre," states Ihde. "Michael Cristofer was an actor in DC and NY. (He later wrote SHADOW BOX and such screenplays as WITCHES OF EASTWICK and CASANOVA.) He and I were working on a screenplay about a country music singer. Susan Sarandon was set to be one of the stars. We researched the subject by going to a bluegrass festival in Berryville, VA, where we met Carlton Haney and Fred Bartenstein, who produced bluegrass festivals. We didn´t find the financing for that film project but one investor liked one of the scenes set at a bluegrass music festival. Ten days later, we brought our film crew to North Carolina and shot BLUEGRASS COUNTRY SOUL."

The Co-Producer was Robert Leonard, a stage manager at the time in Washington, DC. He later founded The Road Company in Johnson City, TN. Robert Henninger, an assistant cameraman on the film, also worked in theatre in DC. Today, he is the CEO and President of Henninger Media Services in Arlington, VA, where Ihde recently supervised the digital transfer of the film for Time Life.

TIME: 8:00 PM
DATE: Thursday, March 9, 2006
PLACE: The Lobero Theatre
TICKETS: $25.00 (all proceeds go to SBT, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation.
FACILITY FEE: The Lobero charges a fee of $2,50 on all tickets.
Tickets are available at the Lobero box office (805) 963-0761 or from the Santa Barbara Theatre (805) 963-7282. SBT is taking reservations for the DVD of BLUEGRASS COUNTRY SOUL. For a donation of $50.00, you will receive a ticket to the screening and a DVD when it is released.
Contributions may be sent to: SBT: The Santa Barbara Theatre, P.O. Box 23211, Santa Barbara, CA 93121
 
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