screenings / upcoming
- 03/07/2025 (Friday). Sudwerk Brewing Co. 2001 2nd St. Davis, CA, a benefit for the Davis Live Music Collective. Doors 6.30pm / Music 6.45pm / Film: 7.15pm / Q&A 8.45pm. Live music by Red Dog Ash. (See Flyer).
Tickets: $13 in advance, $15 at the door.
- Look for these upcoming screenings:
- Albuquerque, NM
- Austin, TX
- Burlington, VT
- Chicago, IL
- East Lansing, MI
- Ireland
- Santa Fe, NM
- Shasta, CA
- Tucson, AZ
- Philadelphia, PA
screenings / past
- 12/11/2024 (Wednesday). The Heavy Anchor. 5226 Gravois Ave. St. Louis, MO. Music Fundraiser for the victims of Hurricane Helene. Doors open 7.30pm. Live music by Luisa Sims.
- 10/19/2024 (Saturday). Rooftop Cinema. Valencia, Spain.
- 10/12/2024 (Saturday). The Cube Cinema. Bristol Radical Film Festival. 4 Princess Row (entrance on Dove Street South). Bristol, UK. Show at 20:00. Live music by Joe & The Temperance Two. Tickets: £8 general, £5 concessions. (See Flyer).
- 10/02/2024 (Wednesday). The Nevada Theatre. 401 Broad Street. Nevada City, CA. A benefit for KVMR. Doors 6.30pm / Film: 7pm. Live music by Brendan Phillips & Cedar Hennings. (See Flyer).
- 09/06/2024 (Friday). Southern Illinois University. Carbondale, IL. Doors 6.45pm / Music & Film: 7pm. Live music by Hugh DeNeal. (See Flyer)
- 06/30/2024 (Sunday). The Jalopy Theater & School of Music . 315 Columbia St, Brooklyn, NY. Doors: 6pm / Music: 6.30pm / Film: 7pm / Q&A: 8.30pm. Live musician: Lizzie No. (See Flyer)
- 06/20/2024 (Thursday). Conference presentation at Radical Film Network's Archives of Radical Cinema. La Corrala, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Spain. 6-7.30pm.
- 06/12/2024 (Wednesday). Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture . 269 4th Ave (corner of Garfield Place and 4th Avenue), Brooklyn, NY. Doors: 6.30pm / Film: 7pm / Q&A: 8.30pm. Live musicians: DuPree and Friends. (See Flyer)
- 06/10/2024 (Monday). Belk AuditoriumHilary Dirlam & Bob Buckingham. Free and open to the public. (See Flyer) . Wren Student Union, Mars Hill, NC. 3pm-5pm. Live musicians:
- 06/05/2024 (Wednesday). St. Stephens Music Hall, a benefit for The Valley Labor Report. 2620 Clinton Ave W, Huntsville, AL. Doors & Music: 6.30pm / Film: 7pm / Q&A: 8.30pm / More Music: 9pm. Live musicians: Morgan Sloan and Kam Jones. (See Flyer)
- SOLD OUT SHOW!! 05/28/2024 (Tuesday). Cafe Colonial, a benefit to put a memorial plaque on the burial site of Aunt Molly Jackson. 3520 Stockton St, Sacramento, CA. Doors: 6pm / Music: 6.15pm / Show: 6.45pm / Q&A: 8.30pm. Live musicians: Creme de Resistance. (See Flyer)
DONATE HERE - SOLD OUT SHOW!! 04/25/2024 (Thursday). Pageant Theater in collaboration with KZFR 90.1 FM Community Radio, a benefit for the Pageant Theater. 351 E 6th St. Chico, CA. Doors: 6.30pm / Show: 7pm / Q&A: 8.30pm. Live music by The Family Band. (See Flyer)
- 04/24/2024 (Wednesday). Roxie Theater, a benefit for the the Black Banjo Reclamation Project. 3117 16th Street. San Francisco, CA. Doors: 6pm / Show: 6.30pm / Q&A: 8.15pm. Live musician: Hanna Mayree! (See Flyer)
- 04/06/2024 (Saturday). The Pearl. 13944 Main Street, Locke, CA. Doors & Potluck: 6:00pm / Music: 6:30pm / Introduction & Film: 7:00pm. (See Flyer)
- SOLD OUT SHOW!! 03/10/2024 (Sunday). Davis Odd Fellows, a benefit for KDRT 95.7FM GRASSROOTS RADIO. 415 2nd St. Davis, CA. Doors: 6pm / Show: 6.30pm / Q&A: 8.15pm. Live musicians: Casey Thompson with special guest Connie Reeder! (See Flyer)
- SOLD OUT SHOW!! 02/10/2024 (Saturday). Other Cinema. 992 Valencia St. San Francisco, CA. 8pm. With live music intro by saw musician Cindy Sawprano! (See Flyer)
press
- Cummings, Angie. Commentary: In defense of country music. The Aggie. September 14, 2024. (PDF | Web)
- KVMR, 89.5FM. Public Announcement. September 19, 2024. (wav)
- Baker, Steve. KVMR, 89.5FM. Monday Morning Show. September 16, 2024. (m4a | Web)
- Clarke, Jack. “Open Country: Unveiling the Working-Class Heartbeat of American Country Music.” Culture Matters (UK). July 06, 2024. (PDF | Web)
- Clarke, Jack. WBAI: Pacifica Radio in NYC, 99.5FM. Arts Express. June 26, 2024. (MP3)
- Gonzalez, Vicki. Capital Public Radio (serving the Sacramento Valley, The Foothills, and Beyond), an NPR-affiliated public radio broadcaster. Insight. May 28, 2024. (MP3 | Website)
- Bohannon, Sarah. North State Public Radio (KCHO 91.7 Chico / KFPR 88.9 Redding), an NPR-affiliated public radio broadcaster. April 24, 2024.
- Stark, Monica. “‘Open Country’ film is hitting the open road.” Chico Enterprise Record. April 22, 2024. (Print PDF | Web PDF)
- Baxi, Rohan. “Timeout Radio.” KDRT 95.7FM. April 23, 2024; replayed April 27 and April 23. (MP3)
- Labbé-Renault, Autumn. “Phenomenal ‘Open Country’ screening.” News from Davis Media Access. March 2024. (PDF | Website)
- Glass, Fred. “Film Review: Open Country.” California Red: A Publication of Democratic Socialists of America. March 26, 2024. (PDF | Website)
- Wagman, Bill. “The Saturday Morning Folk Show.” KDVS 90.3FM. March 9, 2024. (M4A)
- Kelly, Doug. “Dug Deep interviews ‘Open Country’ filmmakers Jesse and Glenda Drew.” KDRT 95.7FM. March 7, 2024. (MP3 | Website)
- Stark, Monica. “‘Open Country’ hits the open road: UCD professors release country music documentary.” The Davis Enterprise. March 2, 2024. (PDF | Website)
- Labbé-Renault, Autumn. “Davis Media Access: Country documentary is a labor of love.” The Davis Enterprise. February 29, 2024. (PDF | Website)
- “Country documentary aids KDRT.” The Davis Enterprise. February 29, 2024. (PDF | Website)
- Drew, Glenda and Drew, Jesse. “Open Country Film Bar: Honky-Tonkin' Cinema!” Otherzine, Issue 33. 2018. (PDF | Website)
- Drew, Jesse. “Real Revolutionaries Carry a Banjo.” Viewpoint Magazine (and other places). 2014. (PDF | Website)
- Meyer, Carla. “Folk and country and Pete Seeger.” Sacramento Bee, February 9, 2014. (PDF)
- Drew, Jesse. “Country Music's California Heart.” BOOM CALIFORNIA, 2011. (PDF | Website)
- Sacher, Jay. “Drawing Crowds: A Night Out with the Hillbillies of Valencia Street.” The Bay Citizen. April 19, 2011. (PDF)
booking
We are offering the film to community organizations, down-home music venues, alternative film spaces, union halls, and grass-roots projects as a means to spread the word and to help you generate some funds and resources to continue doing the good work you do.
Our idea is to offer the film to use as a funds-generating and community connecting event. We will attend your event and introduce the film and answer any questions at the end. Every event will open with a few songs played by a local musician. We are only releasing Open Country for an in-person audience. It will not be streamed or on any on-line platform. It is meant to be experienced in-the-flesh. This will be an event worth attending in person, to help build community and bring people together. It is a already a proven crowd-pleaser!
If you would like to participate and benefit from Open Country your organization would:
- Schedule the film
- Find a venue and build an audience
- Provide a means for projection and sound (we can sometimes help with this)
You can charge whatever you like and use the entirety of the income to support your good work! We only ask that you provide a modest contribution (to be determined) to a local musician to play a few songs at the beginning of each event.
Use the button below to send us an email if you are interested and we can arrange the means to review the film. As Open Country will only be released at in-person events, it is critical that we guard access to the film, so please respect this necessity. The value of the film is contained in its in-person screening presentations. We prefer it to be seen in a crowd of neighbors and friends, not alone on your smart phone! Our intent is to use it to build community.
ABOUT
Open Country is a journey into the roots of American Country music, reclaiming it as the creative musical expression of working people of all colors. Through archival clips, contemporary interviews, performances, and animated graphics, Open Country repositions country music into its rightful place as a people’s music. This film features interviews with Billy Bragg, Mat Callahan, Keith Cary, Davey D, Barbara Dane, Ryan Davidson, Hazel Dickens, Hilary Dirlam, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Bairbre Flood, Archie Green, Gerald Haslam, Toshio Hirano, Roger Knox, Jon Langford, Hannah Mayree, Morgan McDow, George Metesky, Yvonne Moore, Utah Phillips and Pete Seeger.
With the twang of a steel guitar, the whine of a fiddle and the plunk of a banjo comes an instant association; the pick-up truck, the cowboy boots, the rolling hills, dusty fields, lonesome highways and the flag. Lots of flags. The twang of Country-Western puts you into the American heartland, on the ranch, the farm, or in the honky-tonk or beer hall. For many, it has also come to signify conservatism, “traditional values,” American chauvinism, or even racism, bigotry and the confederate flag. Country-Western music has been prominently featured by every major contemporary Republican figure, from Richard Nixon to G. W. Bush. George Bush the elder claimed Hee-Haw as his favorite TV show. Consequently, no one is too surprised when Country -Western radio disc jockeys smash CDs or ban music from groups taking positions frowned upon by the right-wing.
Does Country-Western deserve this reputation? Like the flags they fly so fervently, the right wing likes to promote this claim to ownership. But history and facts do not bear them out.
Although one wouldn’t realize it from listening to today’s pop Country-Western radio stations, country music has been anything but a rightwing soundtrack. To the contrary, the roots of Country and Western lie firmly in classic American traditions of resistance to capital, freedom from government interference, and in defense of the right of workers, poor farmers, and the dispossessed to live their lives in dignity.
This film shows the origins of country music as being drawn from the same well as what was originally called “hillbilly” or “folk.” Much early country music was written from the perspectives of Southern tenant farmers, Appalachian coalminers, working Southwestern cowboys, Western farmworkers and other marginal poor folk. These tunes were passed along generation to generation, with the lyrics often evolving as times and conditions changed. As the radio and recording industries grew up around the music in the 1920s and 1930s, vested financial interests formed and developed a stake in the financial viability and political identity of the music. In the 1930s and 1940s, a star system arose, as country music developed a fan base and began to challenge the hegemony of tin pan alley and urban popular music. In the 1950s, McCarthyism played a prominent role in the extraction of Country-Western from that of folk music, with its left-wing associations with artists like Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger.