As both Rolling Stone and Pitchfork reported, Echo In The Canyon, a feature documentary on the Laurel Canyon music scene of the late ’60s is set to hit theaters on May 24.
The film includes conversations with the likes of Brian Wilson, Tom Petty, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Graham Nash, Fiona Apple, Beck, Regina Spektor, David Crosby, Jackson Browne, and more, conducted by the film’s executive producer, Jakob Dylan. The documentary, directed by Andrew Slater, was first shown at last year’s Los Angeles Film Festival and the official trailer became available this week.
The Laurel Canyon scene was crucial to the so called ‘California Sound’, with musicians involved constantly exchanging ideas by playing together, demoing songs to each other, and inspiring one another. As Hollywood Reporter wrote, “in the documentary, Dylan also takes an incisive look at how their sound impacted contemporary artists such as Norah Jones, Beck, Regina Spektor and Cat Power, among others.”
Dylan issued a statement on the film, saying that, “the best test of songwriting is that it transcends its moment in time,” he said. “And there is no doubt that the songs we explore in this film are as powerful today as they were in 1965.”
Andrew Slater, a former music journalist and the film’s director, also told Hollywood Reporter that, “it’s how The Byrds were listening to The Beatles, and The Beatles were listening to The Beach Boys, and The Beach Boys were listening to The Beatles and how all that cross-pollination happened to create this music that resonates across the world and across time.”
After the initial screenings in LA on May 24, and New York on May 31, the general release and an accompanying album are set to be released in June.
