Directed by:
Bernard MacMahonCinematography:
Vern MoenPlots(1)
At the height of the Roaring Twenties, music scouts armed with cutting-edge recording technology set out across America to capture the unknown voices of everyday folk. The recordings they made revealed the country's diversity - artistically, ethnically, geographically and economically. Through the stories of music pioneers, their families and eyewitnesses to the era, we travel back in time to the "Big Bang" of modern popular music - to the first time America heard itself, its own music, pure and unadulterated. This documentary trilogy produced by T Bone Burnett, Jack White and Robert Redford (who also narrates) explores a democratic revolution that would reverberate the world. (Denver International Film Festival)
(more)Cast
![Jack White](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/274/274033_759deb.jpg)
Jack White
USA
Best movies:
Cold Mountain (2003)
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
Coffee and Cigarettes (2003)
![Nas](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/161/007/161007445_8bee7a.jpg)
Nas
USA
Best movies:
Hype Williams: The Videos, Vol. 1 (2002) (video compilation)
Belly (1998)
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)
![Elton John](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/164/333/164333322_98ef4f.png)
Elton John
UK
Best movies:
The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert (1992) (concert)
Billy Elliot the Musical (2014) (theatrical recording)
Live 8 (2005) (concert)
Taj Mahal
USA
Best movies:
The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains (1987) (TV movie)
Songcatcher (2000)
Six Days Seven Nights (1998)
![Steve Martin](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/267/267764_fd3f4c.jpg)
Steve Martin
USA
Best movies:
The Simpsons: Greatest Hits (1999) (video compilation)
Parrot Sketch Not Included: Twenty Years of Monty Python (1989) (TV movie)
The Prince of Egypt (1998)
![Willie Nelson](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/405/405078_9cb51a.jpg)
Willie Nelson
USA
Best movies:
We Walk the Line: A Celebration of the Music of Johnny Cash (2012) (concert)
Honeysuckle Rose (1980)
Wag the Dog (1997)