Take Me to the River documents recording sessions that paired veteran musicians with singers and rappers generations younger. And the film’s theatrical rollout, which starts Sept. 12, is making a similar multigenerational outreach, hitting 12 Recording Academy chapters in August and September and – optimistically – schools in 2015.
Beyond the film’s theatrical run, producer Martin Shore, who was inspired to make the movie after the deaths of legendary Memphis musical personalities like Jim Dickinson and Willie Mitchell, is looking to launch a tour featuring several of its musicians – William Bell, Booker T. Jones, Frayser Boy, Al Kapone and others. Its educational aim is to ensure that the original artists are able to share their experiences with younger ones.
“We try to live in the moment while giving some backstory,” says Shore. “Seventy-five percent of all proceeds go to aging musicians in need.”