When the film starts out with wide shots of the West Texas landscape and Butch Hancock singing "Roll Around" in the background, we know that we're in for an artistically framed treatise and not just another talking-head documentary. The first speaking clip, which consists of a television weatherman delivering his report while writing the recorded high temperatures onto the chalkboard map, reminds us of a simpler time, and clues us in to that fact that we are about to receive a history lesson.

The story of "Lubbock Lights" is mostly told through the recollections of Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Terry Allen, Tommy Hancock, Butch Hancock, and others. Lubbock is a place in the middle of nowhere that, according to Ely, "makes you feel both like you're the center of your own world and also that you're just one little ant in the middle of a vast nothingness." Tommy Hancock tells us that Lubbock is "a nice place to live, but I wouldn't want to visit." Whatever your personal feeling about Lubbock, we are led to one undeniable conclusion: lots of good music has emerged from there.

Tommy Hancock, who appears throughout the film, is likeable as hell, explaining during one segment that he decided to make music his career, because he played a gig, "got drunk and made five bucks," and figured he could do that for the rest of his life. Early in the film, West Texas music historian Rob Weiner pronounces Hancock, not Holly, the king of West Texas music, and Tommy seems to wear that mantle well.

Speaking of Buddy Holly (whose last name is actually spelled "Holley," we are reminded at the film's beginning, as the camera pauses reverently at his gravestone), he, Roy Orbison, and Waylon Jennings are lovingly mentioned, but not much time is spent on them, possibly because of inability to obtain rights to the music (although Waylon's "Waymore's Blues" does play over the closing credits). After all, Buddy Holly was born and raised in Lubbock, and one might expect him to be a major player in any documentary of Lubbock music. On the other hand, a good bit of time is given to Bob Wills, who is actually from the panhandle town of Turkey, since his Texas Playboys, with their mixed country/big band sound, were so influential in popularizing Texas music nationally.

After not too long it becomes clear that the focus of "Lubbock Lights" is the influential band The Flatlanders, which was formed in Lubbock by Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, and Butch Hancock in 1972. As David Byrne points out, The Flatlanders were a band like the Velvet Underground, because they "didn't sell any records, but every one who heard the record started a band." Gilmore, Ely, Hancock, and others generously participate in the telling of the story of the band, and a clip of the band doing "If You Were A Bluebird" during a recent reunion performance is so beautiful it actually brought a tear to my eye.

"Lubbock Lights" is especially valuable for its old video clips of Gilmore, Hancock (Butch and Tommy), Ely, The Legendary Stardust Cowboy, Terry Allen, and others. It's interesting to see these guys in their element so many years ago. Especially interesting is what appears to be a low-budget music video with Tommy Hancock's Supernatural Family Band performing "Go Home With the Girls in the Morning" while country dancing in the ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru. Weirdly fascinating.

"Lubbock Lights" was eye-poppingly photographed by Lee Daniel, whose name you may recognize from his work on the films of Richard Linklater. His cinematography provides wide rolling scenes that perfectly capture the emptiness and solitude, as well as the surprisingly singular beauty, of the west-Texas landscape. Editing, often the bane of the small indie film, is handled competently here. It's smoothly transparent, with hard cuts when needed, fade-ins in the right places, professionally done by editors Mark Bullard and Lisa Williams. In fact, the film's production is great all around, from the sound to the transfer. The only thing I really had a problem with was the choice of font for the titles. It appears to be Comic Sans, or some derivative thereof, a font we use for the text links on this website, but which stands out like a sore thumb in the movie. That's nitpicking, though, isn't it?

"Lubbock Lights" is a must-see for any fan of Texas music, and, really, for any fan of music in general. In our what-have-you-done-for-me-lately world, we far too often lose track of our roots, and "Lubbock Lights" helps us rediscover and remember some of them, while providing an interesting and entertaining video document that will wear well with repeated viewings throughout the years.

NOTE: While no promotional consideration was paid to T4TX.com or the author of this review for the review or DVD sales, we provide a link to the film's website as a courtesy for our readers who may want to purchase the film.