““New High” The flowering interest in bluegrass has spawned its first film: Albert Ihde’s Bluegrass Country Soul, which opens today at six local theaters. It is filled with good music, good photography and interesting people. But above all else it is delightfully enjoyable to watch…. Bluegrass fans will love every minute, while novices should find it a fascinating and immensely likeable introduction to the art.”

“It’s impossible not to be captivated by Bluegrass Country Soul, a vivid documentary that puts you front and center at a legendary 1971 bluegrass festival where the future and past made beautiful music together. I’m personally partial to the Lilly Brothers, Tex Logan and Don Stover aggregation, but anywhere you turn the sound is pure joy.”

““Riveting Cinema Verite” Bluegrass Country Soul is a riveting cinema verité portrait of a bluegrass festival when it was still an underground phenomenon with a rabidly loyal fan base of spectator-participants. It documents a uniquely American musical style in its prime and in its element, without pretense or talking heads or axes to grind. For decades, as the bluegrass festival tradition exploded throughout the United States and abroad, the film gained a cult following, especially among musicians.”

““Classic Film” Bluegrass Country Soul captures one of Carlton Haney’s legendary festivals in Camp Springs, North Carolina, on Labor Day weekend of 1971. It is credited as the first bluegrass documentary, and is essential viewing for both lifelong bluegrass fans and those new to the genre. This classic film features bluegrass music’s pioneers, as well as those who would take the music into the future…. Many of the festival’s legendary moments are preserved in color for posterity….”

“Bluegrass Country Soul…is a treasure. Like reading a good book, different details stand out each time the film is viewed. It’s hard to imagine a three-day line-up with more talented and diverse performers…. Country people and fans from the cities got along fine, enjoying the music they all loved. Carlton Haney referred to them as “the long hairs” and “the short hairs.” In a time of political and racial division in the world today perhaps we should look to the power of music to build community, the way it happened in the equally contentious summer of 1971.”