Dreamin’ Wild: The day the music fired

0 0 June 28, 2024 Edit this post

by Chris Riley

I love it when I stumble across a little gem such as Dreamin' Wild.

The 2022 film tells the story of musicians Donnie and Joe Emerson, who made a record in their barn when they were teenagers.

Like the majority of self-funded projects, it fails to amount to much and life moves on.

Then, 30 years later, it is suddenly rediscovered -- hailed by the online community as a lost musical masterpiece.

Written, directed, and produced by Bill Pohlad, who produced the Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain, Dreamin' Wild stars Casey Affleck and Walton Goggins as the two brothers.

The brooding Donnie is something of a child prodigy and multi-instrumentalist, as tormented as he is talented.

Joe, the joker, plays the drums, but lacks self-confidence, seeking refuge in manual labour.

The highly regarded Affleck, who won an Academy award for his portrayal of the grief-stricken Lee Chandler in the 2016 Manchester by the Sea, delivers another outstanding performance.

The talented, entertaining Goggins is perfect as the well-meaning Joe.

The two stars receive excellent support from Noah Jupe as the teenage Donnie, Zooey Deschanel, as Donnie's peace-keeping wife Nancy and a bespectacled Beau Bridges as the boy's father Don Snr.

As the beautifully crafted story unfolds we find a 40-something Donnie, his musical career a distant memory, running a recording studio that is struggling to make money.

Struggling to make ends meet, he plays wedding gigs on the weekend with wife Nancy (Zooey Deschanel), who is also a drummer.

Then there is a knock at the door when independent record producer Matt Sullivan (Chris Messina) shows up on their doorstep.

He informs the brothers that their album has become a cult classic and there is interest in a new pressing, as well as a special concert and even a support tour.

Wracked by guilt over the amount of money his father poured into his failed musical career, Donnie is reluctant to re-open the door.

Dreamin' Wild is a quiet, soulful, thoughtful offering that may not be the best film Casey Affleck has ever made, but it's a keeper.

It reminds me of the 1983 Eddie and the Cruisers, although that movie was not of course based on real life.

The real Donnie and Joe Emerson grew up on their family farm in rural Fruitland, Washington, in the late 1970s.

Their father encouraged his teenage sons' musical interest as they began writing and playing their own music.

In fact, he built them a state-of-the-art $100,000 recording studio where they produced their first album, Dreamin' Wild, in 1979.

Donnie tells how they didn't have much contact with the outside world, not until they got a tractor with a radio.

The album is an eclectic mix of rock, soul, R&B, country and funk music, on their own Enterprise & Co label.

After Dreamin' Wild, Donnie pursued a solo career and recorded at least two solo albums.

Can I See You, recorded in Los Angeles in 1981, was not released. Whatever It Takes, a country album, was released by a private press label in 1997.

Dreamin' Wild did not become a commercial success until 2008, when record collector Jack Fleischer discovered the record in an antique shop in Spokane, Washington.

In July 2012, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti covered the song "Baby" and in the same year Light in the Attic Records re-released Dreamin' Wild, with "Baby" becoming an underground hit.

In October 2012, the brothers performed at a Light in the Attic anniversary concert in Seattle.

In the 18 months the Emerson brothers spent playing music in their farm studio, they wrote and recorded about 70 songs.

As a result, they followed up the reissue of Dreamin' Wild with the 2014 release Still Dreamin' Wild: The Lost Recordings 1979–81.

We caught it on an international flight.

Unfortunately, Dreamin' Wild is not currently available on any of the streaming services. Hopefully it will be soon though.