Review of Dirt Road To Lafayette (2018) by Liz B — 28 Jun 2018

Beautifully shot, complex portrait of the Deep South (USA), seen through the eye of a young person utterly new to the milieu, and who connects through the context of music. Unexpectedly, there were extended scenes of actual musicians playing and singing, which was enjoyable, but also meant a slow pace.

The writer is a Scottish person who has also lived in the US for long periods of time, and had some insightful things to say about both the way outsiders (particularly Brits) can see it as rather monolithic/ confined to stereotypes, and also about the meanings of tiny interactions there in everyday life that connect to wider issues such as historical and current race relations.