A British DJ and radio show creator joins with the producers of THE KING’S SPEECH to reveal the stories behind the forgotten record albums of the American South.
Motivated by a broken heart to leave the UK for the US, DJ/writer/artist Joseph Fletcher began a roadtrip through the deep South over a decade ago, stopping along the way at thriftstores to pick up the odd record albums that caught his eye. The closest to fame most of these records’ featured musicians, evangelists, and ventriloquists likely reached is through emailed-around “World’s Worst Album Covers” links, but Fletcher saw something more – an opportunity to explore what motivated these individuals and to expose their stories and their forgotten music, to larger audiences. Having already crated a BBC radio show about some of his rediscoveries, Fletcher now turns to the visual medium of documentary, partnered with British production company Bedlam Productions.
Fletcher is nearing the end of a Kickstarter campaign for final production funding and post-production financing. With just over a week to go, they’ve crossed the halfway mark at the time of this writing, but could still use help getting over the line to their £30,000 goal.
I’m attracted to this project for its regional specificity, outsider viewpoint, and the sheer curiosity factor of learning about who made these records and why. Thankfully, I don’t get the feeling that Fletcher will be indulging in schadenfreude or mocking his subjects for their varying levels of talent or based on a stereotypical perception of their hickdom, which could easily be a cheap path of least resistance for some to take when confronted by this kind of material. Instead, he seems interested in exploring the idea of failure and what happens when ambitions aren’t met, and finding the human story behind what might otherwise be too easily dismissed. The one concern I have is what the extent of Fletcher’s presence in the film will be. It’s hard to effectively pull off the role of an onscreen guide, and I’m not convinced that his backstory of heartbreak and discovery is strong enough to justify him serving in this role vs letting the focus fall squarely on the would-be musicians and other personalities featured on the albums. That said, I’m basing this purely on the short trailer, so perhaps Fletcher has come up with a more elegant solution to allow himself to be part of the film – I’m looking forward to seeing the result.
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what (not) to doc 