It All Begins With a Song – Film Review

Disclaimer: I received this film for free from TriCoast Entertainment in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the film or the content of my review.

Title: It All Begins With a Song 

Age: PG

Released: TriCoast Entertainment released the feature on UpTV on the 6/1

Director: Chusy

Genre: Documentary, Music

Rating:  🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 (5/5 Stars)

About: Their melodies stick in your head. Their words hook into your soul. And while their work deeply affects millions, few know their names. This is a celebration of music’s most important forces: The Nashville songwriter.

It All Begins With A Song tells the stories of songwriters just getting to town and the hit-makers who are and have become the pillars of the industry. And, of course, it pays homage to the greats who built the trunk of the tree that has turned Nashville into the songwriting centre of the world.

Review: When I first saw the trailer for this, I didn’t know what to expect.

I don’t normally watch documentaries in my spare time, but clearly this was a mistake and I’m so glad that I decided to give this a go.

I love music, and although my music taste might be a bit different to most people, I still appreciate all the time and effort that goes in to writing these songs. But I’ve never really thought about how a song comes alive.

We all hum their tunes. We know their words by heart. And we tell the story of our own lives through their art. Yet, few of us know the names of the people who wrote them.

This is a film about one of the most important and unknown, forces in music: The Nashville Songwriter.

Nashville, Tennessee. When you hear this city name, you cannot help but think of country music and music in general.

There are many big names that have started or performed at Nashville at one point. People like Dolly Parton, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny cash, all the way to Taylor Swift. 

You don’t need to know all the songs that are shown in this. All that matters is that you can easily see how much talent these songwriters have.

It gives us a unique look at the different ways that these songwriters create their art. Something which I’ve never even really thought about before, but I certainly feel like I learned a lot from it.

What was truly fascinating was just seeing a glimpse of how they write, how a song is put together, where they go to write, the writing sessions (where it’s not just one person but a couple of people coming up with a song) etc.

The stress of waiting to hear if their song was selected once submitted was also an interesting thing. I mean thinking about it, of course, it would be a stressful time. But the way it was showed about how exciting and thrilling it is when their music is picked, that was a touching moment.

Seeing the people behind these successful songs – songs that I’ve heard several hundred times just shows how talented these people are. And they deserve a lot more recognition.

But one thing I must mention, is one of my favourite scenes about the song “I Drive Your Truck,” sung by Lee Brice. This is such an emotional scene.

It was written by Jessi Alexander, Connie Harrington, and Jimmy Yeary. The song is based on the story of Paul Monti, who lost his son in Afghanistan.

You hear the father talk about the last time he spoke to his son before the soldiers came to his home, and then to deal with the grief of losing his son.

To cope, he started to drive his truck to feel close to his son. The writers of the song and Monti have never met until this documentary.

I have to admit I nearly cried at this part. None of the people in this scene had dry eyes, and neither did I. When you hear the story behind this particular song, it’s just so heartbreaking and moving.

This isn’t the only story that you learn about though.

Throughout the film, you hear and see from some talented writers and musicians in a series of interviews, anecdotes, performances, and stories of successes and failures.

Some of the people in the film include Rodney Crowell, Brad Paisley, Alison Mosshart, Kacey Musgraves, Claude Kelly, Ben Folds, Brandy Clark, Luke Bryan, Garth Brooks, Bill Anderson, Jonathan Cain, and many others. 

I’m honestly so pleased that I watched this.

It’s not just a documentary exploring how songs are written. It is honest, authentic and there is a certain humour to that just keeps you entertained.

It is serious, but also funny at the same time.

Uplifting, but also sad with songs like ‘I Drive Your Truck’. 

It was an absolute joy to watch though, and I strongly suggest that everybody (whether you’re a huge music lover or not) watch this!

It All Begins with a Song is not a short documentary but it seems to fly by.

It is an engaging and insightful look at the history of Country music through the eyes of its most important but often ignored contributors.

It’s hard to believe that it all begins with a song, ‘three chords and the truth‘ (quote from the film).

It’s hard to believe that even though it all begins with a song what happens next is simply magical.