“Garland Jeffreys: The King of In Between” will be shown in Loveladies, Aug. 11.
“All of the kids where I come from/Tell the same old story/They want to be in a rock ‘n’ roll band/Get them a piece of the glory,” sang Garland Jeffreys in his 1981 FM radio hit, “R.O.C.K.”
The documentary “Garland Jeffreys: The King of In Between” — which The Lighthouse International Film Society will show at The Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences, Aug. 11 — is not only about that glory.
Sure, Jeffreys had some exciting high points throughout his approximately 50-year career (his last album was 14 Steps to Harlem in 2017 and, now 81, he no longer performs in concert). He had a bunch of major label albums, and big tours, and enough hit singles to sustain him and his family.
Also, plenty of acclaim. “He’s in the great singer-songwriter tradition of Dylan, and Neil Young … one of the American greats,” Bruce Springsteen says in the documentary.
But his eclectic music — blending elements of rock, reggae, blues, soul and more — and his insistence on using his songs to evoke the harsh realities of modern life (including, frequently, the racism he has experienced as a biracial New Yorker) have made sustaining commercial success difficult.
“Categorization,” says writer David Hajdu in the documentary, “is the reality and the tyranny of the music industry. And he’s been a victim of it.”
But the film — produced and directed by Jeffreys’ wife, Claire Jeffreys — still has a happy ending.
She covers the span of her husband’s life in this 70-minute film, including his childhood in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn; his time at Syracuse University in the ’60s (where his longtime friendship with fellow student Lou Reed began); the band (Grinder’s Switch) that he fronted before going solo; and the way she and he met and then, later, decided to get sober together.
GARLAND JEFFREYS
She includes dynamic performance footage from various stages of his career (including a 1978 collaboration with jazz saxophone titan Sonny Rollins, and his 2019 “retirement celebration” at City Winery in New York); at-home footage showing him with her and their daughter Savannah, who is a singer; and interviews with Reed, Laurie Anderson, Graham Parker, Alejandro Escovedo, Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid and others, in addition to Springsteen.
Jeffreys’ 1992 album Don’t Call Me Buckwheat represents a kind of turning point. It was his last major label album, and a major statement, starting with its confrontational title. (“I don’t know of anybody that was writing as directly about race as Garland was, in the early ’90s,” says Springsteen).
But it was not an album that could be easily marketed to American audiences, and it didn’t sell very well. “They just killed it,” Jeffreys says, in the film, of his record company at the time.
He took some time off to concentrate on raising Savannah. And he re-emerged, about a decade later, with a different perspective, content to self-release his music, play smaller shows, and bond more intimately with his fans.
He calls it a personal renaissance, saying he “regained my enthusiasm.” Springsteen invited him to make guest appearances at shows, and Jeffreys became a regular at Light of Day benefit concerts in New Jersey. Footage is included from an intimate gig in the Rent Party series in South Orange, in 2011. “You get to know all the people. ‘Hey, what are you doing here!’ … it’s just friendly,” he is heard saying, in an interview from that era.
DANNY CLINCH
GARLAND JEFFREYS
“Garland Jeffreys: The King of In Between” is a thorough and absorbing look at a career that never got the attention it deserved, and the wisdom attained, along the way.
“Garland is success, to me,” says Escovedo. “For someone to accept themselves and love themselves in that manner … that’s really enlightenment. That’s what we all strive for.”
Moments earlier, Reid had been asked about his own career, “Do you consider your musical journey a success?” He responded, “I feel really grateful that I’ve been able to say some things I believe are true.” The exchange is included, obviously, because it is applicable to Jeffreys as well.
In an email last week, Claire Jeffreys said, regarding the film’s future, “We are now looking at a theatrical run in spring 2025 and then some form of streaming.”
“A very powerful story, well told, does not go away so easily or so quickly,” says Springsteen of Jeffreys’ music, in the film. “It remains, even if it’s in the shadows. It remains, it has its power, it speaks … and people find that kind of work and are drawn to it.”
The Lighthouse International Film Society will show “Garland Jeffreys: The King of In Between” at The Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences, Aug. 11 at 8 p.m. Visit lighthouseff.com/lifsscreenings.
For more on the film, visit kingofinbetween.com.
Here is the trailer:
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