. "Original theatrical release poster"@en . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "56169336"^^ . . . . ""@en . . . "Duke Erikson"@en . . "The American Epic Sessions is a documentary film in which an engineer restores the fabled long-lost first electrical sound recording system from 1925, and twenty contemporary artists pay tribute to the momentous machine by attempting to record songs on it for the first time in 80 years. The film was directed and co-written by Bernard MacMahon and stars Nas, Alabama Shakes, Elton John, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Jack White, Taj Mahal, Ana Gabriel, Pokey LaFarge, Beck, Ashley Monroe, Los Lobos, The Avett Brothers, Bettye LaVette, Rhiannon Giddens, Raphael Saadiq, Edie Brickell, Steve Martin, and others. The film employed a diverse line-up of performers both ethnically and musically to represent the breadth of cultures that were first given a national platform through the invention of this recording machine. It also explored the extent to which the recordings made on it in the 1920s influenced and inspired contemporary music."@en . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "\u201CMy inspiration in filming The American Epic Sessions was Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly films, where they perform these dances in a single, continuous take. I wanted to let the audience know that they were looking at a live performance, so almost all of the performances are shot in one continuous take.\u201D"@en . . . . . . . . . . . "Bernard MacMahon"@en . . . "\u2013 Nicholas Bergh"@en . . . "Duke Erikson"@en . . . . . . . . . . "padding:8px;"@en . . "Allison McGourty"@en . "Duke Erikson"@en . . . . . . . . . ""@en . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "The American Epic Sessions"@en . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "116.0"^^ . . . . . . . . . . "1109957981"^^ . "United States"@en . . . . . . "Bernard MacMahon"@en . . . "Allison McGourty"@en . . . "The American Epic Sessions"@en . . . . "\"Today it\u2019s like everything is so lit up, everyone\u2019s an automatic star. Back then you\u2019d barely see a picture of these artists\u2014we have it good now, it\u2019s amazing now compared to then\u2014but still, they had something sacred, they had something that we don\u2019t possess. It was just music, people expressing themselves with the sound at that time, and it had nothing to do with the video, it had nothing to do with anything but the song. It shows me there\u2019s so much more to do, there\u2019s so much further I can go, but now I know the beginnings; this gives me the roots of all of it.\""@en . "English"@en . . . . . . . . . "6960.0"^^ . . "Vern Moen"@en . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "62439"^^ . . . "Bernard MacMahon"@en . . . . . ""@en . "\u2013 Bernard MacMahon"@en . . . "The American Epic Sessions is a documentary film in which an engineer restores the fabled long-lost first electrical sound recording system from 1925, and twenty contemporary artists pay tribute to the momentous machine by attempting to record songs on it for the first time in 80 years. The film was directed and co-written by Bernard MacMahon and stars Nas, Alabama Shakes, Elton John, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Jack White, Taj Mahal, Ana Gabriel, Pokey LaFarge, Beck, Ashley Monroe, Los Lobos, The Avett Brothers, Bettye LaVette, Rhiannon Giddens, Raphael Saadiq, Edie Brickell, Steve Martin, and others."@en . "\u201CThe idea was from day one that it had to be real. The validity of the film would lie in, once that needle drops, you\u2019re actually hearing the sound of what they\u2019re recording. There were no production mics involved.\u201D"@en . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "right"@en . . . . . "\u2013 Nas"@en . . . . . . . . . . "1.893456E9"^^ . . . . . . . "The American Epic Sessions"@en . . "6960.0"^^ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "45.0"^^ . . . . . . . "Lo-Max Films, Wildwood Enterprises"@en . .