Roberts Slow

Indiana-born John Hiatt is an unlikely but enthusiastic champion of the Midwestern work ethic - he's been making records since 1974, but 2010's The Open Road is his sixth studio effort since the dawn of the new millennium, and it sounds like the work of a man who isn't about to stop doing this work anytime soon. Like 2008's Same Old Man, The Open Road was recorded at Hiatt's home studio, and while he and his road band (Doug Lancio on guitar, Patrick O'Hearn on bass, and Kenny Blevins on drums) conjure up a lean, soulful groove on these sessions, the mood is easygoing and almost casual, which easily suits the bluesy tone of these songs.

By 1976 Neil Young had already created a body of work that most songwriters would cut off both arms and legs to have composed. But Young had merely completed another phase of his career and was ready to start the next. This film tells the story and reviews the music of Neil from the release of his stunning Zuma album at the end of 1975 up to the release of the well received Prairie Wind in 2005 - a 30 year period during which this maverick musician covered just about every style in existence.

Initially stationed in England for the Air Force during the early '60s, American soul shouter Geno Washington fronted a British group known as the Ram Jam Band for a series of moderate U.K. chart hits during 1966-1967. Though he was born in Indiana, Washington had the grit of a deep soul testifier like Wilson Pickett or Don Covay. While stationed in East Anglia, Washington became known as a frequent stand-in at gigs around London. When guitarist Pete Gage saw him at a club in 1965, he asked Washington to join his new group with bassist John Roberts, drummer Herb Prestige, organist Jeff Wright, Lionel Kingham on tenor sax, and Buddy Beadle on baritone.