Echo in the Canyon

I was born in 1970-something. The youngest by far of four kids. So my 1950s-born siblings had a huge influence on my taste in music. The middle of us girls introduced me to her favorites: Jan and Dean, The Mamas & The Papas, Peter Paul and Mary, Jay & the Americans, and of course, The Monkees.

From there I expanded to Michael Nesmith (from The Monkees), the Beach Boys, the Beatles, the Byrds, Crosby Stills Nash (and sometimes Young), the Doors, Hendrix, Joplin, the Turtles, the Animals, Hermans Hermits, Buffalo Springfield, and on and on. Not a fan of Frank Zappa’s music, but I like the guy,

With the exception of the Monkees and Nesmith, I backed off listening to these bands for a while. I was reintroduced to them and some new bands when the movie “Pirate Radio” (“The Boat that Rocked” in the UK) came out in 2009. The story is based on the true story of a pirate radio station broadcasting rock music from international waters as the BBC would not play rock on its stations.

But last year, one documentary changed everything for me.

Jakob Dylan, son of some guy named “Bob,” produced a documentary called “Echo in the Canyon.” True, he stars in it and sings a lot, but the stories. The stories. The film focuses on the late 1960s in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles where the folk and rock singers lived, played, got high, and collaborated. It brought out a feeling in me I haven’t felt in years. Just absolute joy and awe of the talent and grit of the 60s musicians.

Some of the interviewees you may recognize include, Tom Petty, Brian Wilson, Ringo Starr, Michelle Phillips, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, David Crosby, Roger McGuinn, and Jackson Browne.

I was fortunate to see the film in our small, independent movie theater. I remember when Tom Petty came on screen, there was an audible gasp in the crowd as Tom had died two years earlier and his loss was still strong. I remember them mentioning Peter Tork and I felt a true sense of loss, as he had died just a few months before. We were a small audience that evening, but when the film was over, we applauded. I rushed to the parking lot of my work so I could use the wifi to download the soundtrack – the original songs and the covers by Jakob.

Since then I keep adding more and more songs from the late 1960s, some of which I found on the Google radio station “The Greatest (Rock) Generation: ’67-’69.”

Let me emphasize, if you are a rock music fan, if you love music history, if you just want something good to watch for once, watch “Echo in the Canyon.”