A four season series by Spotify tells stories from music folklore in these hand-drawn animations. Sadly Spotify has taken down the series and the video section all together but I have managed to track two down, one that features a favourite musician of mine and the other film has drifted through my mind and haunted me ever since.
"Drawn and Recorded tells the stories that fell through the floorboards of music history and brings them to the light of day via unique, hand-drawn animation and the raspy, baritone voice of T-Bone Burnett. Sometimes hilarious, occasionally tragic, always compelling - these anecdotes show a side of people behind the melodies that you may never have known."
The first is the story of my father's idol Kurt Cobain and the surprising origins and creation of Nirvana's most iconic song.
"Drawn & Recorded has differentiated itself from the aforementioned pop music documentary show not only in its length and aesthetic sensibilities but also in its willingness to venture deeper into music history."
- Josh Jones, Open Culture
The second clip is my resident ghost, a story of the blind street musician Willie Johnson. The story is a powerful one and I think of it often so I would like to share it with you.
Reading Recommendations and Content Considerations
Below is a link to the Vimeo channel of the series director Drew Christie who is an award-winning animator and filmmaker. His animations have been featured in The Criterion Collection, The New York Times, Sundance TV and Vanity Fair. In 2007 he won The Seattle Times/Seattle International Film Festival's 3 Minute Masterpiece competition with ‘How to Bring Democracy to the Fish.’
His short films not only stand our for their animation but also for their storytelling, so his channel is well worth exploring.
