Heartworn Highways (James Szalapski, 1976) | Documentary Visions
Schedule
Thu, 11 Sep, 2025 at 07:00 pm
UTC-04:00Location
Rubenstein Arts Center at Duke University | Durham, NC
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Film Screening:HEARTWORN HIGHWAYS
(James Szalapski, 1976, 92 min, USA, English, DCP)
In the mid-70’s, James Szalapski captured lightning in a bottle, a fleeting moment in music history. Namely, the birth of Outlaw Country Music, heralding a new, close-knit generation of renegade musicians, inspired by Willie and Waylon. Typically, they gathered at Guy and Susanna Clark’s home in Nashville or at Townes van Zandt’s trailer in Austin, to play each other’s songs deep into the night. Turning their backs on the corporate establishment, they formed a soulful community prizing personal, beautifully crafted songwriting above all else. Resolute romantic poets, they chose their own path. Buried for 25 years, HEARTWORN HIGHWAYS is now revered as a classic, seminal work that offers a rare, unfiltered look into the lives of the artists who shaped and redefined the genre. In Szalapski's film the camera becomes an unseen guest, roaming casually beyond social borders, bringing us into another world of American roots music exposing its open heart and gritty innocence. Featuring: Guy Clark, Townes van Zandt, David Allen Coe, Rodney Crowell, Larry Jon Wilson, Steve Young, Gamble Rogers, Charlie Daniels Band, Steve Earle… and their many friends.
"The hard living – and hard partying – lifestyles of outlaw country’s figureheads are played out on screen as we visit Van Zandt’s Austin trailer, see Coe play in Tennessee State Prison, join the gang in Nashville’s notorious Wig Wam Tavern and witness a liquor-fueled Christmas at Clark’s house. No wonder the film’s original tagline read: 'The best music and the best whiskey come from the same part of the country'." - LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
"An essential artifact and document of that scene and sound is filmmaker James Szalapski's long-inaccessible documentary HEARTWORN HIGHWAYS, a film with as much of a devoted cult as the music itself." – NASHVILLE SCENE
"HEARTWORN HIGHWAYS fell in line with the great hangout movies of the past 50 years when authority started to lose its power and a few moments of creativity was worth more than its weight in gold." - James Clay, FRESH FICTION
Sponsored by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.
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Event URL: https://cinematicarts.duke.edu/screensociety/screenings/heartworn-highways-james-szalapski-1976-documentary-visions
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https://cinematicarts.duke.edu/covid-19-information
Parking Info: https://artscenter.duke.edu/parking
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Where is it happening?
Rubenstein Arts Center at Duke University, Campus Drive,Durham, North Carolina, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
