NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW

Jan 11 2020 154 mins 2

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Premiering at Nashville Film Festival 2019, The Sheriff of Mars is a music documentary that tells the story of Daniel Antopolsky, a country and folk musician who was friends with Townes Van Zandt and who, the film suggests, helped to inspire Townes' now iconic outlaw country song "Pancho and Lefty." Wanting to escape the dark influence of the 1970s outlaw country music scene, Daniel retreated to France where he was discovered by Jason Ressler, the director of Sheriff of Mars.

Jason was so captivated by Daniel's music that he became his manager, helping him release his first album at the age of 65. More albums followed as did press from the BBC, Rolling Stone, and other renowned publications. Under Jason's guidance, Daniel began getting booked to perform at prominent music events, including SXSW and the Black Deer Festival in the UK.

Not content to merely be Daniel's manager, Jason also put together a music documentary to raise awareness of Daniel and his music. The Sheriff of Mars is what resulted, an affirming, on-screen demonstration of how it's never too late to start a music career or to revitalize once-abandoned dreams.

If the vision is there, you need collaboration to make it happen, but if you compromise the vision—if you have a good vision—it's not going to turn out well."
- Jason Ressler

Jason is the first manager-director I've met, so I invited him on the show to get his take on finding success in film and music. Some of the things we discuss include

How he got a BBC profile for Daniel
How to persevere when beset by failure
Collaborating with music producers and engineers to create an album that’s right for an artist
The interview he did with James Brown before he died and the impression that left

If you listen all the way to the end, you'll get to hear Daniel's song "Fish Bait Blues," which is also featured in the film.

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Related Episode

In the interview, Jason mentioned being impressed by what Hannah Leder and her co-director were able to put together with a limited budget. On this episode, I interview Hannah about how she and her co-director pulled off a compelling film with just a two-person crew.