It's pretty safe to say that if I hadn't seen this forty year old documentary on Turner Classics I would have gone the rest of my life without ever having heard of Mance Lipscomb. A shame too because the man has a uniquely simple perspective on life and his music, believing the world was made for everybody. At seventy five years of age when this film was made, Lipscomb offers his enlightened views on racial harmony, connecting with a good woman, and working hard to be happy. Rail thin and wiry, and shown in an assortment of colorful, checkered flannel shirts, the man offers up a handful of tunes in familiar bluesy style, occasionally raising his voice to a lilting falsetto. One gets the impression that Mance Lipscomb achieved a satisfying balance to a hardscrabble life of farm work offset by a love of music and knowing his place in the world. Like myself, you may never have heard of the man, but taking a brief time out from one's hectic schedule is well worth the effort to view this simple musician with a simple message.
Review of A Well-Spent Life
A Well-Spent Life
(1971)
"I say y'all never gonna find another man like me" - Mance Lipscomb
11 August 2015
Warning: Spoilers