Thursday, 7 April, 2011 5:57
by Chris Jay
Dirtfoot promotional photo courtesy of Dirtfoot.com.
Shreveport's "gypsy-punk-grumble-boogie" pioneers Dirtfoot have been busy making their bean can-shaking fans proud, racking up achievements like opening for Rockabilly legend the Reverend Horton Heat on a national tour, being featured in a Shreveport episode of the PBS program Music Voyager, and planning their 2011 appearance at Wakarusa (June 2-5). They look to carve one more notch into their belt (or banjo handle, as the case may be) in the coming months by releasing a live DVD/documentary/short film documenting their recent live performance at Wade Correctional Center in Homer, Louisiana. They've completed shooting and are using project fundraising website Kickstarter to raise completion funds for the project. I spoke with Dirtfoot banjoist and backing vocalist J. Bratlie about the recording, the film, and using Kickstarter.
Chris Jay: So, what was it like performing at a prison? I can't imagine the logistics of setting something like that up.
J. Bratlie: We had to go the prison ahead of time and meet with the Warden, go through the rules, and we all had to pass criminal background checks. We literally had a 25-person film crew - there were ladies who were on the crew, and they had to have special escorts. It was quite the experience. We performed in a chapel that was built, brick-by-brick, by the inmates.
CJ: Tell me about the Kickstarter campaign.
JB: We launched the campaign on April 4, and it's a 30-day campaign. The $10,000 we've set as the goal is the minimum we need to complete the project. The great thing about Kickstarter is that it essentially makes our fans our record label. We're going to release a CD/DVD combo, which doubles our expenses on the project. We shot the film using 35mm cameras and film, which is very expensive. I think when people see the final project and how great it looks, they're going to be surprised by the quality of it and proud to be associated with it.
CJ: William Sadler, who stars in The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist, appears in the short film. He also seems to be a huge Dirtfoot fan. How did that come about?
JB: William Sadler plays "the Warden" in the short film. He was in town filming The Mist, and he was doing a House Concert at Fairfield Studios, and we sat in on a song with him. Most of the Dirtfoot crew came up and jammed with him. He came to our gig the next night, he was right up front dancing through every song, and he basically started contacting us after that. When we contacted him about about possibly being in the short film, he immediately responded - he just said "get me there."
As of this blog posting, Dirtfoot have raised just shy of $2,000 using Kickstarter. To learn more about their project or lend your support, visit their Kickstarter project page. To listen to some Dirtfoot tunes, visit their Myspace page here.