Every creative person, be they a hobbyist or professional, eventually butts up against a bevy of similar but nonetheless challenging questions.
These questions and personal confrontations are but a few of those facing Sonoma County singer-songwriter Avery Hellman, who performs as Ismay, and is the main focal point of the new documentary, Finding Lucinda, which hit VOD platforms this month.
This film follows Hellman on a nearly seven-year journey of self-discovery as they lean way-in to the life and work of one of their heroes, Lucinda Williams. The 1998 album by Williams, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, is not only well regarded as a masterpiece; it was also named #98 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time list in 2020. This album also ranked sixth overall for the same mag’s Best Country Albums of All-Time list in 2022, lodged squarely between Merle Haggard’s Serving 190 Proof and The Chicks’ Fly.
Hellman says the process of starting the journey to answer possibly unanswerable questions came about organically. “The whole process kind of went one step at a time. I was working half-time playing music and half-time on my family’s ranch and was just sort of unsure, as anyone who’s 25 years old would be, in terms of where I fit in,” they explain. “It kind of goes from someone in their mid-20s, where you’re asking, ‘What do I imagine I want to be?’ to ‘What does the world want from me?’ when you’re a bit older.”
The connection to Williams was an early one, as the family would often listen to her albums on road trips. And later, when in an attempt to spend more time with their dad, Hellman sang and played guitar in a Williams cover band called Lake Charlatans, a clever nod to Williams’ birthplace in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
This created “a spark of interest” in Williams’ body of work. “When you’re a creative person, you’re always looking for more inspiration, and I was just looking for a route to learning more about a certain kind of music,” says Hellman.
That route becomes tangible in Finding Lucinda as Hellman embarks on a journey that literally follows in some of the early footsteps Williams took on her rise to prominence. In the film, Hellman first meets with Austin stalwart Charlie Sexton, who produced and played guitar on Williams’ follow-up to Car Wheels, 2001’s Essence. This meeting, which takes place early in the film, sets the stage for a travelogue of sorts where influential figures in Williams’ career share stories but also do their best to answer all the big questions Hellman is facing.
Hellman says, “I was able to see behind the scenes in her development and maybe understand a bit more about her origins. When she was young, maybe 15, she did a tour of Mexico and played with this folk artist, but I also hadn’t realized that her dad was friends with people like Charles Bukowski; she was with Flannery O’Connor when she was growing up.” Notable ingredients to the roux in the Lucinda Williams creative gumbo to be sure.
Having worked on the film for nearly seven years, Hellman continues to grow, learn and perform. The interviews from the film, which obviously had to be truncated to fit a certain runtime, have now been refurbished into a podcast (also entitled Finding Lucinda). And as the film makes its way into the world, Hellman has started booking dates where it will be shown, followed by a performance by Ismay.
This includes a local date as part of the “Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Out of the Park” nighttime screening series on Friday, Oct. 3. The event will feature live performances by Ismay, Chuck Prophet, Steve Earle and of course, the Lake Charlatans, with all proceeds going towards Sweet Relief Musicians Fund of the Bay Area, which offers medical support for musicians.
More information about the film is available at findinglucindafilm.com and about Ismay at ismaymusic.com.
