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Calgary filmmaker Joel Stewart credits his friend, singer-songwriter Mike Plume, for planting the seed of the idea.
The struggling musician from Bonneyville was living in Nashville at the time – he spent several years there trying to make it on Music Row – and sometimes Plume would get frustrated.
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And so Stewart, 38, set out to create a documentary series with his Murder Incorporated Film Company that would focus on Canada’s unsung musical heroes – hosted by such established artists as Colin James, Randy Bachman and Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy – is The Undiscovered Country, premiering tonight on Country Music Television (CMT).
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Calgary’s Billy Cowsill, Jenny Allen, and Lorrie Matheson will all get their turn in the spotlight as the series unfolds. The Cowsill episode in particular (which will air Mary 11) is near and dear to Stewart and perhaps the most gripping tale of the series.
Cowsill experienced fame during the late ‘60s when he was just a teenager as part of the family band, The Cowsills, who inspired TV’s The Partridge Family. After The Cowsills broke up, Billy’s life collapsed under the weight of drug-fueled decadence worthy of a VH!: Behind the Music episode.
The now sober songwriter eventually found himself in Canada and he was rescued by members of Calgary’s music scene.
That included Jann Arden, who, essentially, held an intervention for him.
Cowsill lives in Calgary today as a member of the roots rock band The Co-Dependents, one of the city’s best loved acts.
Stewart says editing Cowsill’s segment was painstaking.
“We could do at least an hour, just on Billy,” says Stewart. “We’ve got fascinating stuff about him hanging out with Warren Zevon and doing qualudes with (guitarist) Waddy Wachtel. That stuff had to go.
“And we barely even mention the whole Partridge Family thing. How Screen Gems approached The Cowsills and asked them to do this show … and they said ‘We love your mom, but we want Shirley Jones for the part.’
“The original concept for the Partridge Family was that they would be traveling around on this covered wagon train and performing for all the pilgrims. Of course, Billy just hated it.”
The most impressive thing about the Cowsill documentary is the way in which Murder Incorporated got the songwriter to open up about his past, a past he’s notoriously reluctant to discuss.
Stewart admits Cowsill was “standoff-ish” when first approached about the piece. That’s why he got his brother, Jay Stewart to co-produce that segment.
“I kind of hung in the weeks for that one,” laughs Joel. “My brother Jay is closer to Bill’s age (in his early ‘50s) and right out of the gate they were bumming smokes off each other and they had that connection.
“I thought, if (Billy’s) going to be surly, I know one guy that can be even crankier back and that’s my bitter brother Jay, who’s also a producer.”
The Undiscovered Country episode featuring Cowsill got the Stewart brothers nominated for best director in a non-dramatic production over 30 minutes at this years Alberta Film and Television Awards.
That nomination is among 18 nods for Murder Inc. at this year’s event.
Lately Cowsill has been experiencing health problems stemming from his back, but Joel says he and his brother hope to revisit the singer-songwriter someday for a documentary that would focus solely on him.
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