Texas Music Revolution follows the country music festival of the same name leading up to its 25th anniversary in 2021. Along with following the narrative of organizing the event and the pitfalls that occurred along the way, the film offers performances by artists such as Charley Crockett, Joshua Ray Walker, Ray Wylie Hubbard and Kiefer Sutherland as well as talking-head commentary from sources like Observer News Editor Kelly Dearmore.
The documentary is the feature directorial debut of award-winning cinematographer Troy Paff and was produced by Joshua Jones, station manager of KHYI 95.3 The Range and a central figure in the film’s narrative.
“I took this job right when I finished my undergrad when I was 22 years old,” Jones tells the Observer. “A few months after that, I thought I would throw a concert. [...] Never in my wildest dreams that I think it would last almost three decades.”
Texas Music Revolution | Trailer from B Faris on Vimeo.
Jones knew he wanted to do something big for the anniversary of his festival, especially considering the average runtime of a festival is only a little over two years. But he struggled with the question: “How big?”I kept going back and forth on, ‘Am I making a big deal out of nothing?’” he says. “A lot of my friends and family were just like, ‘Dude, you are never ever going to have another opportunity to commemorate the 25th year of a music festival that you created.’”
Jones considered a few different ways to go about it (one of them being a coffee-table book) but ultimately turned to his friend, director Troy Paff, to help him celebrate in style.
“I called Troy one day, and I said, 'What do you think about making a documentary?' I sort of pitched him this idea and he loved it and had multiple ideas of his own. And we've been working on it ever since,” Jones says. “I'm really, really proud of the finished product, but honestly it's because of people like Troy. I don't know how to make movies”
The film was conceptualized from the start as a way of following Jones’ process of organizing and managing the festival, and that, in the broadest sense, is what the film is about. Documentaries follow real life, however, and real life rarely goes exactly as planned.
Collecting Stories
“Several groundbreaking bands that had played TMR early on have since broken up and I really wanted to be the guy who brought these bands back together,” Jones says. “I realized at some point that wasn't going to happen. But in pursuing those stories, we found even more interesting stories. More compelling stories.”Kiefer Sutherland was also slated to narrate the documentary, but had to scale back his involvement due to scheduling conflicts.
Perhaps the most notable setback is seen in the film’s trailer, when lightning storms forced festival organizers to scramble to move events such as Charley Crockett’s headlining set indoors. In hindsight, though, the crisis made for a better story.
Texas Music Revolution is a new documentary about Texas Music Revolution, an old music festival.
Brandon Snell
And that’s exactly what happened. Jones describes the 25th Texas Music Revolution as a “friendly version of the Fyre Festival” (famed fiasco of an event). The documentary has been included in festivals nationwide and is currently under consideration for prestigious, Oscar-qualifying events. (Jones is not yet at liberty to say which.)
Jones finds it ironic that the film has taken this long to make it to Texas, but has reveled in the opportunity to share the local music he loves with audiences nationwide.
“We have been traveling with this documentary, screening for audiences across the country for the last six months,” he says. “I mean, we were in Palm Springs last week. I'll be in Florida in a week and a half. But, like, we have been introducing these people to Charley Crockett and Joshua Ray Walker and the Ottoman Turks and Nathan Wells and those guys. It's really been one of my favorite things to see new audiences fall in love with someone like Ray Wylie Hubbard, to see some of these audiences fall in love with some of the music that I interact with on a daily basis.”
Texas Music Revolution will have its Texas premiere at The Texas Theatre on Saturday, April 27. Passes for the Dallas International Film Festival are available online.
