I am a long-time Big Smith fan. I've been watching them for I guess close to 10 years, and they are still favorites. They continue to increase their national popularity with vigorous and animated live performances, and they also are the stars of an excellent film called Homemade Hillbilly Jam.
The film was funded by Mitteldeutsche Medienförderun and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, and was produced by Hoferichter & Jacobs GmbH. Which, of course, has many of us in the Ozarks wondering just how one of our local hillbilly clans ended up being so popular in Germany.
Filmmaker Rick Minnich, in the area to make a documentary about Branson, apparently heard the Big Smith debut CD and realized there was a story there. The result, says Jim Wunderle of the Springfield Business Journal, "is a sumptuous look at the surroundings and traditions that many of us who grew up here tend to take for granted." The live performances "look and sound great, and the audio "is pristine."
