‘The Center of Nowhere,’ written and directed by Dave Hoekstra and co-produced by Jamie Ceaser. with ... [+]
For former Chicago Sun-Times columnist Dave Hoekstra, the new documentary film The Center of Nowhere (The Spirit and Sounds of Springfield, Missouri) has been a five year labor of love. It could even be described as a seven year affair as Hoekstra has worked to promote it for the last two years in the hopes of selling it for digital distribution.
“The Center of Nowhere” is a phrase coined by music producer Lou Whitney to describe the isolated locale of Springfield, Missouri. The state’s third-largest city, Springfield doubles as “The Queen City of the Ozarks” and the birthplace of Route 66.
In the film, Hoekstra sets conversation with nationally acclaimed musicians like country legend Merle Haggard, Grammy nominated Chicago singer songwriter Robbie Fulks, Americana artist and Blasters guitarist Dave Alvin, rock singer Jonathan Richman and 60s country/rockabilly star Brenda Lee alongside the insight of Missouri-based artists like Whitney and rock bands The Skeletons and Morells.
In the process, the writer, director and co-producer whittled down nearly 27 hours of interviews with 30 participants into a 95 minute documentary that tells the story of the Springfield music scene.
Hiding in the shadow cast by cities like New Orleans, Nashville, Memphis and Austin, Springfield never quite makes the conversation of great American music cities. The first words spoken by Hoekstra in The Center of Nowhere describe it as “the last overlooked pocket of American popular music.” The question is how, in the age of the internet where nothing remains a secret, could that happen?
“I think the one thing is the isolation there. And they talk about that in the documentary. Robbie Fulks always talks about that - how it’s a hard place to get to,” said Hoekstra. “I’ve been there 30 times and I’ve never flown. I guess you could fly into Branson. But it is really isolated. I think that’s led to some of the purity that’s come out of there - some of the ‘Show Me State’ rebelliousness. They’ve got their own way of doing things down there.”
Today, in an era driven by convenience, Springfield may be tough to get to. But there was a time when its location off of Route 66 as a railroad hub made it easily accessible. That brought people from all over which lent a real diversity to a music scene that grew to feature elements of folk, country, rockabilly, rock and roll, soul, gospel, doo wop and more.
While the Grand Ole Opry, America’s longest running radio program, popularized country music beginning in 1925 on WSM AM out of Nashville, Springfield tried to take things a step further by capitalizing on the exploding popularity of television broadcasts in America during the 50s. The Springfield-based Ozark Jubilee country showcase originated from the Jewell Theatre nationally from 1955 to 1960 during six seasons on ABC TV.
Haggard in particular cites the show’s significance in The Center of Nowhere documentary. But the Jewell Theatre was demolished in 1961 and, despite its establishment of Springfield, Missouri, as a country music destination, the city never grew alongside the Jubilee quite the way Nashville did with The Opry, en route to becoming the country music capital of America and the current center of the music world.
“They had some great vision and they had some great ideas about making that nationwide. It was the first network television show to broadcast country music across America,” explained Hoekstra of The Ozark Jubilee’s significance. “But I think to this day, they never were able to develop the business infrastructure that Nashville did and that’s how Springfield kind of suffered.”
In the film, Hoekstra tells the story of Wayne Carson, a songwriter who moved to Springfield. Carson wrote or co-wrote songs like “The Letter,” a #1 hit in 1967 for The Box Tops, and “Always On My Mind,” a hit several times over for artists like Lee, Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson and The Pet Shop Boys.
Eventually, Carson set up a studio in Springfield.
As the years ticked by, producer and Morells bassist Lou Whitney became the center of Springfield’s music scene. The Morells operated out of Springfield backing a number of national artists like Alvin, Richman, The Bottle Rockets and Syd Straw with Whitney handling production at The Studio, his Springfield recording center.
“So Wayne Carson sets up a little studio in Springfield and Lou and Bobby Lloyd Hicks and all these guys from The Skeletons, they learn the craft - they learn the trade under Wayne. And then Lou comes next with his studio,” said Hoekstra. “That was kind of a little small scene there… But it attracted people. People made the effort to go there and record with Lou. The Del Lords from New York, Robbie Fulks. Wilco did some tracks with Lou. But now I think there might be one studio in Springfield.”
Lou Whitney quickly becomes the documentary’s star, sharing stories while making the case for Springfield’s legacy in stunning detail. A producer who simply loved music, Whitney recorded anyone and anything, working with the professional musicians who made the trip as well as priests, children and anyone else with a passing interest.
Left to right: Tom Vlodek (director), Michael “Supe” Granda (Ozark Mountain Daredevils), Dave ... [+]
“Lou was a historian. He was really proud of that town. And anybody who’d go down there to record, he would always lay all this history out. So he did the same thing with me and it turned out to be a two part series for the Journal of Country Music,” explained Hoekstra of his first meetings with the producer. “It’s really interesting. Lou would record anybody. There was a hobo there named Marlin Wallace who’s got these little independent CDs. He’s kind of an eccentric down there. But his whole life was around the railroads,” Hoekstra said of one of Whitney’s more eclectic projects.
During Hoekstra’s seven years working The Center of Nowhere, Whitney lost a battle with cancer in 2014. Carson, then 72, died in 2015. Haggard passed away on his 79th birthday in 2016, and Hicks died in 2017.
As the film lays out, Carson and Whitney were unique characters. And the conversation in The Center of Nowhere with Merle Haggard doubles as one of the legendary star’s final interviews. All of which belies the importance of the leap of faith Hoekstra took in telling the stories that make up the documentary film.
“To get Lou in his element driving around and showing us the sites of Springfield. It was really, really important at the end of the day to see those people preserved,” Hoekstra said. “They should have a statue for Lou. He was a great force for this type of music. He had no bias. Lou was important and it was important that he got props in this.”
In 2001, Hoekstra wrote and co-produced The Staple Singers and The Civil Rights Movement, a documentary film for Chicago’s PBS TV affiliate WTTW, shining a light on the vastly influential work of Mavis Staples several years before the career rebirth she remains in the midst of today. But that film had financial backing.
“It was a weird, obviously bad business decision to back into this with no financing,” Hoekstra admits. “The bottom line is to get it into digital distribution and pay everybody back. Everybody has worked on this in faith and the hopes of seeing it through. So we’re trying to get it into digital distribution. People keep asking about DVD and we’d have to clear music rights. Song rights are really, really a tough thing. So that’s why we’re going digital. Theatrical is a lot more expensive for song rights.”
Hoekstra, who hosts a Saturday night radio show on Chicago’s WGN Radio, exposing the stories and characters that tend to fall through the cracks weekly during the “Nocturnal Journal” program, cites a companion soundtrack or online library of Springfield’s sounds as his dream accompaniment to The Center of Nowhere.
Hoekstra has an interest in applying the same template to the legacy of the beach music of The Carolinas and its Chicago soul influence at some point down the road. But, for now, his focus is on screenings of The Center of Nowhere this Saturday, July 27 in Los Angeles (preceded by live music from Fulks and Ben Vaughn at 7PM at the Wild Honey Backyard Amphitheater - proceeds benefit autism awareness), September 11 at FitzGerald’s in the suburbs of Chicago (featuring the live sounds of the North Berwyn Rhythm and Soul Organization) and September 13 at Americanafest in Nashville.
Whitney and the Springfield-based stars of The Center of Nowhere managed to make music an integral part of their lives, their town and their stories. In an era where it’s become difficult to monetize recorded music, there’s a lesson to be learned on the value of art and its role in the community.
“It isn’t just a music documentary. It’s such a unique, unfiltered place that we wanted to show how religion affects the music, being the birthplace of Route 66 and food and stuff like that - how all of that funneled into the music is what we tried to achieve,” said Hoekstra. “I just think that its position in the center of America like that - like Lou used to say and it’s the title of the film - it was the center of nowhere.”
*** For more information on The Center of Nowhere and upcoming events, click HERE
