BUCKSHOT Makes Outlaw Country the Star

Debuting earlier this year, the movie BUCKSHOT tells the story of a struggling, young pop country singer who is tasked with driving an aging, outlaw country legend (Buckshot Thomas) cross-country to what could be the last concert of his life. The movie garnered awards at the Culver City, Marina Del Ray, and Rockport Film Festivals and here, in his own words, the film's creator, Josh Smith tells the story of how the movie came to fruition and why it is special to him.

​Guest post by Joshua J. Smith

Having grown up in a small farming town in Kansas, country music made up the soundtrack of our community, and many people still believed in the teachings of Willie Nelson, “My heroes have always been cowboys and they still are it seems.” I remember my father’s excitement when in 1984 he had scored tickets to the Kansas State Fair closing concert of none other than the Redheaded Stranger himself, Willie Nelson.  This was at the pinnacle of his career, and I could not wait to hear, ‘On the Road Again’ live and in person! We arrived to our seats on the fairgrounds and the golden tickets my father had got such a “good deal” on; put us right behind a giant pole. That night I wasn’t able to see Willie but… I heard him. It was a night I will never forget and it forever embedded that outlaw country sound into my soul.
 
As the years progressed I stayed true to the Outlaw experience – moving to Austin, Texas where cosmic cowboys roam and my musical appetite was served a huge helping of Texas honky tonking. In my early days of film work in Austin I was lucky enough to cross paths with some of my heroes; Robert Earl Keen, Lyle Lovett and even ended up talking football with the legend, Willie Nelson on his famed bus. The highlight of my early directing career was when I cast Freddy Fender, lead singer of The Texas Tornadoes in my second short film, Under the South Texas Skies. He played the lead character performing a heartfelt a capella song in the climatic ending. Freddy even talked Augie Myers into coming out to the filming to be an extra in the film. We miraculously landed the amazing accordion player Flaco Jimenez to play on the soundtrack and it was the first time that my love of film and outlaw country music crossed paths and the results left me wanting more.  For my feature film directorial debut I wanted a story that could blend those two worlds together again. The movie would be the story of Buckshot Thomas, a down and out Outlaw Country legend touring the back roads of America looking to slay old demons that haunt his waking life.
 
While researching Nashville’s music scene of today I was inundated with discourse from outlaw country fans over the pop country takeover of the billboard charts. This new wave was given a nickname “Bro-Country” by Jody Rosen of New York Magazine who wrote, “music by and of the tatted, gym-toned, party-hearty young American white dude.” This phrase wasn’t intended to start a revolution but as almost any country music fan can tell you, that’s exactly what happened.

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Buckshot needed a foil to embody the bro-country syndrome so I created Charlie Stillman, a twenty-something jersey kid, chasing a country music dream from all the wrong angles. He believed his path to fame would come by emulating a bro country star and chasing the next biggest fad. What if he never discovered Willie, Waylon or Merle – would there be any hope for country music? My film posed this question and I created a character in Buckshot Thomas who would attempt to teach Charlie what true country music really means.
 
Towards the end of my writing process, I had one giant hole in my screenplay, it was the songs. I had placeholders with iconic songs I felt captured the feeling each scene, figuring when I finally hired someone with real song writing talent there would be a road map. I was right about the road map but wrong about the money to hire that person. As our budget was squeezed, I was tasked with tackling all the songs on my own. Don’t ask me what qualified me to do so but one day I locked myself in a room and became “songwriter.” It was a daunting and scary task because I knew that if the songs weren’t amazing the movie would surely fail. I’d write the lyrics then attempt to sing them into my iPhone. I’m still apologizing to my poor wife, who was my only initial sounding board, as she was bombarded with texts containing files of my horrible voice slogging through my lyrics.  But after a few weeks miraculously I was getting the hang of it and finally had a majority of the songs.
 
The next step was to find some authentic outlaw musicians. I injected myself into the outlaw country scene both in person and online. I spent a whole summer at The Grand Ole Echo and the Honky Tonk Hacienda, weekly showcases of Los Angeles country artists. It was there that I met Andrew Sheppard who I asked to co-write the pivotal main song in the film.  He brought a unique musical style to the lyrics that opened my eyes of what was possible in these collaborations.
 
With that song under our belt, I shared our closing song with him but my lyrics were tripping him up and something wasn’t jelling. I reached out to Ron Houston, a San Diego artist, who had connected with me on Facebook about contributing some of his band’s music for the soundtrack. Even though Ron whose amazing band, the Sick String Outlaws, who lean towards the punk version of country, reminiscent of Hank III, he took a shot at the final song but something still wasn’t clicking. Ron had a new idea; a song that he’d played a few times at his solo gig but had never recorded. At this point I had only briefly pitched the film’s plot to Ron when he suggested his song might fit the bill. He quickly recorded it on his cell phone and fired it over. It was pure magic as it captured all the things the movie championed. Overwhelmed I immediately searched to find my wife to hear it for her thoughts. She had the same reaction. Then I ran it by one of my lead actors, Conor Murphy, who would have to sing it in the film. He flipped after he heard it, I optioned the song and we were finally ready to shoot the film.
 
During the editing process I began an exhaustive search of more artists to fill out the soundtrack, spending hours listening to every outlaw act on the website bandcamp.com, which showcases new and independent musicians. I had an eureka moment the day I discovered Cecil Allen Moore, a Tennessee artist, who plays the kind of music that makes whiskey taste even better. I contacted him and he was excited about contributing to the film. So much so he sent me his entire catalog to explore; it was a treasure trove of gems that ended up being the main driving force in majority of the soundtrack.
 
I count myself lucky that I was able to make a film about something I love, Outlaw Country Music. Who knows maybe some day Willie Nelson will watch the film and tell me I got it all right, invite me back on his bus and then I can truly say, I’m on the road again…
 
Buckshot toured the film festival circuit in 2017 where we won five awards and played to packed theaters. The film has been released by Freestyle Media and is now available on VOD and DVD/Bluray at http://www.buckshotmovie.com ​

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