Singer/songwriter Aloe Blacc was familiar with the nature-filled giant screen work of director Greg MacGillivray, which includes National Parks Adventure,The Living Sea and To the Arctic.
But Blacc never thought he would be the narrator and guide for MacGillivray's newest film,America's Musical Journey, coming to IMAX and giant screens on Feb. 16. The trailer premieres exclusively at usatoday.com.
"I knew they had done great, epic IMAX films about landscapes and parts of the world that are beautiful to look at," says Blacc, whose hit song with Avicii, Wake Me Up, is featured. "I didn’t realize they would also do stories on people and music. I thought it was a pretty awesome idea."
For MacGillivray, Blacc was the perfect guide to showcase America's rich heritage and explore how a nation of immigrants led the world in musical innovation — from jazz, blues, soul and country to rock 'n' roll.
"Aloe is a star on the rise with an interesting life story, the child of Panamanian immigrants who brought their culture here with them," says MacGillivray. "How immigration has added to America's cultural and creative vitality is one of our main themes."
Blacc leads viewers to major music cities to explore how America's "melting pot" was the dynamic foundation for the USA's many and diverse sounds.
The crew traveled to New Orleans for jazz (taking part in a second-line wedding parade with famed native son Jon Batiste), met Gloria Estefan to discuss Miami's Latin-influenced music, talked with jazz legend Ramsey Lewis in Chicago, hit Nashville to explore the roots of country music, and, of course, stopped in Memphis to pay respects to Elvis Presley's Graceland.
Journey illustrates how music is vital to the arts (highlighting Bandaloop, a group of aerial dancers who perform to music on the sides of buildings) and social change — paying homage to the great music revolutionary, Louis Armstrong, one of 20th century's first massive pop-culture icons.