John Sayles’ New Film Focuses on Southern Blues

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Filmmaker John Sayles’ latest movie, “Honeydripper,” tells a story about a veteran blues guitarist in the South during the 1950s. The film will open in New York and Los Angeles on Dec. 28

The film, which takes place in an Alabama juke joint called The Honeydripper Lounge, casts guitarists Guy Clark jr., vocalist Mable John, saxophonist Eddie Shaw and keyboardist Henderson Huggins as actors and musicians. Vintage blues recordings by Memphis Slim and others are featured on the soundtrack.



  • John_Hammond_courtesy_johnhammond.com.jpg

    Hammond came to the blues through the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which he experienced firsthand in New York’s Greenwich Village.

  • Flea_by_Gus_Van_Sant_copy.jpg

    “Cerebral and academic thought is a different way to approach music,” Flea says of his continuing dive into jazz. “I’ve always relied on emotion and intuition and physicality.”

  • Dee_Dee_Bridgewater_Courtesy_Dee_Dee_Bridgewater.jpg

    Vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater will be among the headliners at this year’s DC JazzFest.

  • Ted_Panke_Nicole_Zuraitis_copy.jpg

    Blindfold Test proctor Ted Panken, left, with the Grammy-winning Nicole Zuraitis.

  • Maria_Schneider_%C2%A92026_Mark_Sheldon_-07_copy.jpg

    “These days, with curated news, where people only get half the story, people can’t even speak to family members anymore,” Schneider laments.


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May 2026
Miles Davis
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