A new music documentary, The Songpoet, focusing on singer-songwriter Eric Andersen, will have its U.S. debut at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Jan. 23. The film is part of the festival’s Cinesonic Series, which features musicians and their legacy. (Watch the trailer below.)
Andersen came to prominence during the folk boom of the early ’60s, signed to Vanguard Records. He made the transition to folk-rock later in that decade and continued to record and perform into and beyond the singer-songwriter era beginning in the ’70s. His most popular recordings include the 1972 album Blue River for Columbia Records. Andersen has long lived in Europe but occasionally tours in the U.S. His upcoming dates are below.
The Songpoet, according to a press release, “dives deep into conflicts of career, family, ego, relationships and the unrelenting pursuit of one’s purpose as it explores what it takes to keep moving forward.”
Film director Paul Lamont says, in the release, “It took more than eight years to make this film, and a lot of that time was spent with Eric at his home in the Netherlands where he opened a very private world to me. I feel that what emerged was a film about an artist, but more importantly, the man came into sharp relief allowing the artist to be understood.”
Appearing in interviews in the film are American record producer and A&R executive Clive Davis, author and music critic Anthony DeCurtis, musicians John Sebastian, Lenny Kaye, Willie Nile, Happy Traum, Robert Aaron, Inge Andersen, Sari Andersen and the late Debbie Green, American music manager Danny Fields, and music producer Norbert Putnam.
Watch Eric Andersen sing “Blue River”
“The camera has always loved Eric Andersen,” says folk singer Carolyn Hester in the release, “and we can be grateful that at long last he has trusted film makers Paul Lamont and Scott Sackett with painting this most personal of portraits … Prepare yourself as layer by layer, in hypnotic sequence, one is bewitched – seeing and feeling every unexpected twist and turn.”
Related: Our review of the Bob Dylan Rolling Thunder Revue box, which includes Andersen
Eric Andersen 2020 Tour Dates
Jan 14 – Hugh’s Room Live – Toronto, ONT
Jan 15 – Sportsmen’s Tavern – Buffalo, NY
Jan 16 – Abilene – Rochester, NY
Jan 17 – Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild – Woodstock, NY
Jan 18 – My Father’s Place – Roslyn, NY
Jan 19 – Lizzie Rose – Tuckerton, NJ
Jan 21 – City Vineyard – New York, NY
Jan 24 – Underground Exchange – Ojai, CA
Jan 25 – McCabe’s – Santa Monica, CA
Jan 27 – Coffee Gallery – Altadena, CA
Jan 29 – Michael’s On Main – Soquel, CA
Feb 01 – Side Door – Sacramento, CA
Watch the trailer for The Songpoet
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