Honky Tonk Moonlight: DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
By, Josh Goleman
“I remember the first time I stepped foot in the American Legion in East Nashville during a Honky Tonk Tuesday. I knew something special was happening, there was a certain energy. There was a sense of respect in the room, multiple generations all joined together listening to live traditional country western music in what felt like someone’s living room. It felt so authentic to me, a younger generation doing their best to create what an older generation had done 60 years ago, to everyone it was a sense of pure nostalgia. When Great Big Story gave me an opportunity to make this film, I didn’t want to just make a straight forward historical doc, I wanted the viewer to experience what I had felt the first time I stepped foot in the Legion.
Channelling the cinema verite style filmmaking which is purely observational, I looked to the Maysles films, in particular the film Salesman. The film doesn’t tell you how to feel about it’s characters or what the statistics are on their sales rates. It was as observation of what they did. A true document of their plight. As a filmmaker, I set several rules myself and my crew had to follow to capture the story it the most unobtrusive way possible. We all had to dress in western wear the entire shoot and never talk about it. After conducting interviews over the phone, I had a good idea of what the story was and how I could approach it, after five trips to Nashville I had enough footage to tell the story in the most honest way I feel is possible.”
— Josh Goleman
To watch the film visit: https://greatbig.is/2sFPh2U
