Talking Feet

On the first hot day of summer, an old farmer goes fishing just as he has done for many years on the West Branch of the Delaware River. A young boy, his frequent fishing companion, eagerly takes him to see the first giant bulldozers, which are to begin construction on the Cannonsville Reservoir. In order to provide more water for the cities, the vast project will flood the valley. The old man goes to the general store and walks the length of the valley to talk about his concerns, but most people do not support him. The young people of the valley celebrate at a barn dance. The old man resists eviction with his unloaded flintlock. The next day, he watches as the houses and farms are burned to clear the way. His friend, the fiddler, picks him up and takes him and his few belongings away.

A film by Yasha Aginsky This hour-long documentary celebrates fifty years of the New Lost City Ramblers (Mike Seeger, John Cohen, Tracy Schwarz and Tom Paley.) Among the first urban musicians to seriously pursue the old-time music traditions of the American South, the New Lost City Ramblers became stars of the 1960s folk revival, appearing at Newport Folk Festival and touring widely in the U.S. and Europe. They inspired generations of younger musicians to explore America’s traditional music, from elder statesman Bob Dylan to banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck to the contemporary African-American string band the Carolina Chocolate Drops, all of whom participated in the film. ALWAYS BEEN A RAMBLER reveals the Ramblers as musicologists as well as expert musicians, showing them side-by-side with traditional musicians including Dock Boggs, Maybelle Carter, and Doc Watson.

In 2009, filmmaker Yasha Aginsky accompanied the great old-time musician Mike Seeger and his wife Alexia on recording trips through the Southeastern United States, documented by Yasha and his assistant, Slava Basovich. A tireless collector, performer and advocate of old-time music and musicians, Mike was on a mission to record a survey of contemporary traditional-style banjo playing.

55 years ago Pete Seeger didn't name names at the McCarthy hearings and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Out on appeal, blacklisted, watched by the FBI, he buys an old camera. With his wife Toshi, they start filming their musician friends. After several years of making small films, they decide to take the family around-the-world to film musicians in the most remote corners of the earth. The historic 16mm footage is intercut with modern day interviews of the family as they lend insight into a time & place that doesn't exist today. Part travelogue, part musical odyssey, part ethnocentric dream, "Pete and Toshi Get a Camera" will take you places you would never have imagined.