In his documentary Stranded In Canton, William Eggleston captured life in Memphis in 1974 in all its rough-and-tumble splendor. Local luminaries from Alex Chilton, Furry Lewis, and even Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley make appearances. According to an old Dangerous Minds retrospective, there are rednecks on Quaaludes and a drag queen at a dive bar; a guy who bites the head off a chicken, and bank-robbing country singer Jerry McGill plays Russian roulette. Harmony Korine once called it the sole inspiration for Trash Humpers: “It has this liquid home movie photography and an accidental narrative. He just walked around filming his friends in black and white video. It’s very fluid.” Gus Van Sant, meanwhile, wrote the essay accompanying the 2008 reissue.

Spiritualized’s J Spaceman and John Coxon are also big fans of the movie. In 2015, they wrote a new score for Stranded In Canton and performed it live during a screening of the film at the Barbican in London. Nine years later, the recording of that performance is seeing release. Spaceman (aka Jason Pierce) and Coxon will also be performing the score again at screenings in London, New York, Memphis, and Los Angeles late this year. These won’t be normal Spiritualized gigs, but I’m reminded right now of how good they were at Pitchfork two summers ago.

A statement from Spaceman:

With Memphis, I grew up with and I fell in love with that whole part of the world and the music that came from there. Memphis is infused with this magic, then this dreadful poverty as well. There’s a strangeness to it. It’s a place where I never felt comfortable. When I was making Ladies And Gentlemen, I went out and did some work with Jim Dickinson because, much as I wanted to have him help me with my record, I just wanted to go and meet the man. He was always a bit like Dr. John, a walking encyclopedia with knowledge of all the music of that area, all the blues musicians and all the stuff that doesn’t get written about. So, the Eggleston film is a spying hole into that world. Jim Dickinson even plays in the movie, Furry Lewis plays in the movie too, but there’s also an unhinged craziness. It feels dangerous.

Check out the soundtrack selection “Mother’s milk” below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “I was stranded in Canton”
02 “Last week I took a trip”
03 “It’s not gospel”
04 “What train blues”
05 “I don’t know what I can possibly do”
06 “Mother’s milk”
07 “Back Up William”
08 “Everybody in their life at one time or another”
09 “Love for the asking”
10 “Credits roll”

LIVE DATES:
11/20 – London, UK @ EartH
12/04 – New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge
12/07 – Memphis, TN @ Crosstown Theater (WYXR)
12/09 – Los Angeles, CA @ Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever

The Stranded In Canton score is out 10/18 via Fat Possum.