Echo in the Canyon

Director: Andrew Slater
Year Released: 2018
Rating: 3.0

In order to celebrate the musical achievements of a group of artists who lived in (or just hung around) Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles back in the late 60's - including Brian Wilson (of The Beach Boys), David Crosby (of The Byrds) and Michelle Phillips (of The Mamas & the Papas) - Jakob Dylan (of The Wallflowers) gathers a group of contemporaries - including Fiona Apple, Beck, Cat Power, Norah Jones and Regina Spektor - to revisit their songs.  While the running time is a little slight (more! I need more!) and I feel like a lot of good material probably got scrapped, this grand pat-on-the-back is a lot of fun for music fans, and I could listen to Tom Petty (this was his last interview) and Roger McGuinn and Crosby talk for hours, because I guarantee what they experienced could fill up volumes of books.  Still, the elephant in the room is Bob Dylan - who started as a folk singer and then went electric - and you can tell Jakob is uncomfortable when he's brought up the one time.  The best story included is how Stephen Stills (of Buffalo Springfield and later CSNY) admits to jumping out a window when the cops showed up and letting Eric Clapton get arrested (you don't bail on God).