A Note From The Director

Dear Friends,

The High Sierra Music Festival is one of this country's truly great musical gatherings. Up to 10,000 music fans are drawn each year to the Sierra Mountains for an event which is both formidable and intimate. For jamband and roots music fans, High Sierra is Shangri-La. Through tight and winding roads, the journey there isn't easy but the rewards are plentiful and the memories last a lifetime.

It was in the spirit of adventure and open-mindedness that Hitting The High Notes came into being. Myself and our crew of five music fans set out on the 10-hour drive from southern California armed with a good night's rest, three video cameras, a box of tapes, a stack of release forms and the motivation to make a film that music fans would watch over and over again. Sure, we had a rough plan of which bands we were going to shoot and a few interviews lined up but we also recognized the necessity of being open to spontaneity. With a bit of luck on our side, we captured some wonderful festival moments that I believe speak to the essence of the High Sierra experience.

After a couple of days of post-festival recovery, I began to watch the 52 hours footage to make sense of it all. Right away it became clear that the festival was about much more than music. The upcoming presidential election coupled with the Fourth of July weekend instilled an intense political vibe in the 2004 festival. But I don't mean "polical vibe" in the traditional sense. I'm talking about prevailing notions of freedom and awareness, education and consciousness. I'll let you be the judge as to how well this came across in our film.

And of course, since High Sierra is a music festival, the other main theme that emerged centered on the essence of a great live performance - from both the performer and audience perspectives. Through interviews with some of the best musicians on the planet and their dedicated fans, I explored the complex, dynamic and often under-acknowledged relationship between these two groups.

As for what the performers themselves had to say, if you walk away with only a single insight from Hitting The High Notes, I hope that you will appreciate the wisdom and perspectives on their craft, they so generously shared.

Of course we didn't want to take ourselves too seriously so I was sure to include some lighthearted segments featuring festival-goers in their element.

Music, freedom and consciousness: to this film-maker, that's what High Sierra is all about. On behalf of CMH Records and the entire crew who worked on this movie, we hope you enjoy Hitting The High Notes, a film by music lovers for music lovers.

See you in the mountains,
Jason Koornick, Director