Road to Nashville is to all intents and purposes a showcase for a selection of country music stars with an extremely flimsy plot that merely takes us from A to B allowing for song after song to be performed. For what it's worth, the story has Doodles Weaver being sent to Nashville to recruit musicians and singers to star in an upcoming movie about country music.
Surrounded by a thin plot in which Doodles Weaver (a relative of Sigorney Weaver) plays agent Colonel Feetlebaum trying to get the biggest Country music stars for a movie, The Road to Nashville has nearly two hours of just that with among them: Waylon Jennings, Dottie West, Hank Snow, Porter Wagoner, The Carter Family, and Johnny Cash. Oh, and the one above the title, Marty Robbins, sings the most songs here including his classic "El Paso".
'The Road to Nashville' has a paper-thin plot - Doodles Weaver tries to convince top country acts to appear in a film - but some great musical performances from anyone and everyone who was big in that field of music at the time.
This a a really fun little slice of 1966 Nashville, great for those of us who like that stuff--some greats at various stages, and a family act that makes me think the rural methamphetamine craze might have started earlier than we thought. But there is also a true gem here.
For fans of "old" country and western music this will assimilate a long journey to Mecca. An assembly line of the then-current and up and coming stars of the genre.
I'm doubting that we're going to get a better DVD of this, and it's too bad. The source material is presented from a crappy looking (and sounding) 16MM television syndication print, and the movie itself was originally presented in nice, wide Cinemascope.
This movie is quite maddening in that it is truly a cinematic turkey. (Or is it a turkey in the straw?
