POSTPONED: The American Epic Sessions

Note: This program has been postponed and will be rescheduled soon.

At the height of the roaring ’20s, music scouts armed with cutting-edge recording technology set out across America to capture the breadth of American music and discover the artists who would shape our world. The recordings they made of all the ethnic groups of America democratized the nation and gave a voice to everyone. It was the first time America heard itself. In The American Epic Sessions, the team has reassembled the very first electrical sound recording system from the 1920s, and invited Jack White and T Bone Burnett to produce an album of recordings by 20 of today’s greatest artists, including Alabama Shakes, The Americans, Ana Gabriel, Ashley Monroe, The Avett Brothers, Beck, Bettye LaVette, Bobby Ingano, Elton John, Frank Fairfield, Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton, Los Lobos, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Nas, Pokey LaFarge, Raphael Saadiq, Rhiannon Giddens, Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, Taj Mahal, White, and Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. In this beautifully filmed musical feature, these artists are given the chance to pass through the portal that brought the world into the modern era. The musicians have roughly three minutes to record their song direct to disc before the weight hits the floor. In the ’20s, they called this “catching lightning in a bottle.” All the musical performances in this film are live. The audio you hear is taken directly from the discs they were recorded to, with no editing or enhancements. The GRAMMY Museum is thrilled to host a screening of multi-award-winning The American Epic Sessions, followed by an exclusive Q&A with, Engineer Nick Bergh, who reassembled the western electric system and recording machine, Executive Producer T Bone Burnett, Director Bernard MacMahon and Producer Allison McGourty. The evening will be hosted by Scott Goldman, Executive Director of the GRAMMY Museum.