SYNOPSIS
A musical odyssey about two veteran musicians in search of what they call “music utopia”, It Was the Music features Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams; he’s from New York’s Upper East Side, she’s from rural West Tennessee.
After leading successful, separate careers since getting married thirty years ago, they decide to pack their instruments into their SUV, set out across America and attempt to make it as a musical duo. From small clubs to big music festivals, Larry & Teresa strike a chord in audiences everywhere they perform, playing their own songs for the first time and pursuing their passion for delivering riveting interpretations of American gospel, blues, country, and good old rock ‘n’ roll.
FEATURING:
David Bromberg, Jackson Brown, David Keith, Bill Payne (Little Feat), Roseanne Cash, Buddy Miller, and others.
Cast and Crew
Larry and Theresa
Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams are one of the most unique musical duos in American music. Larry, multi-instrumentalist, producer, is also known for his collaboration with Levon Helm on three GRAMMY® Award-winning albums as well as his role as invaluable session player and sideman for iconic artists as Bob Dylan (Never Ending Tour 1997-2004), Paul Simon, Willie Nelson, as well as Rosanne Cash, Sheyl Crow, Garland Jeffreys and many more.
Teresa Williams has been performing on stage since she can remember, and professionally for forty years. “I’m old enough to have toured with Eddy Arnold, which I was very proud to do in my early 20s”, she says. Her ensemble work in the Levon Helm Band, during the last decade of Levon’s life, led to tours with Hot Tuna, Little Feat, Phil Lesh and Friends, and Jackson Browne. After almost three decades as a couple, the two gifted musicians united in the studio in 2015 for their first record together, the acclaimed LARRY CAMPBELL & TERESA WILLIAMS, from which, shortly afterward, It Was the Music takes root. American Songwriter raved “This couple has tapped into the dusky spirit of Americana in all of its forms (folk, blues, rock and roll, gospel etc.) and created a unique sound inspired by the past, that is spirited, stirring and timeless.” “Songs that evoke the old classics of the roadways (and roadhouses) stretching along the Deep South between Nashville and New Orleans and the lesser-known, dustier trails along the way,” declared Pop Matters, adding, “The true Americana isn't a sound; it's a feeling. Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams make you feel it with every song.”
Mark Moskowitz- Director
Mark Moskowitz is an internationally acclaimed producer and director, hailed for such award-winning documentaries as STONE READER, which drew applause in theatres and film festivals around the world en route to being named as one of the ten best films of 2003. Along with his full-length work as documentarian, Moskowitz is widely known in the world of political media, directing thousands of issue-oriented ads for Democratic political candidates at every level, spanning local to national candidates in 49 states. Along with IT WAS THE MUSIC, his upcoming projects include ART STOPS HERE, a feature documentary about collectors slated for release in 2023.
Stephen Riggio- Executive Producer
On a rainy Saturday sometime in 2001, Stephen Riggio placed into his VCR a tape of the as yet unreleased Stone Reader, Mark Moskowitz’s literary detective story about his search for Dow Mossman, author of the highly praised, yet forgotten and out of print novel, The Stones of Summer. Believing that Mark’s film was the best movie about books and reading ever made, he was determined to help bring the film to the market and the book back into print. At the time Steve was Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble, so everything fell into place: the film was released to critical acclaim and the book sold 100,000 copies. Stephen and Mark’s friendship grew through years of discussions about art, music, and literature, always hoping that they would someday collaborate on another project.