SPROUT WINGS AND FLY (director/writer: Les Blank; cinematographer: Les Blank; editor: Maureen Gosling; cast: Tommy Jarrell; Runtime: 30; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Cece Conway/Alice Gerrard; Janus; 1983)
“Great stuff.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A lively doc by Les Blank (“Burden of Dreams“/”Innocents Abroad”/”Always for Pleasure”) on the 82-year-old bluegrass master fiddler from the Blue Ridge Mountains in Toast, North Carolina, Tom Jarrell. We see him fiddle, interviewed, and easily relate to family friends and other musicians. The folksy Tom tells colorful tales about things he experienced living in the mountain region, and of being a moonshiner. Great stuff.