Up in the Ridge

Characters:

Jebb - lead

Cliff – Jebb’s brother

Caroline – Cousin of Jebb

Oscar – Friend of Jebb

It all starts on the top of a ridge deep in the mountains of west Virginia. Well not all too far from suires grociery and the bathouse, a ways up the hill.

Young 9 year-old Jebb sat there in 1965 in front of a wodden radio from way before he was born. Breakfast is on the stove. And on the radio he hears god’s voice, or so he thinks. His otherwise insignificant life is changed right then.

Jump forward 10 years. He, his brother and their Sam, on bass, Caroline, on fiddle, and Oscar on Mandolin. are in a recording studio up down in the foothills. They’re ready roll. They are BURNING on their respective instruments. Somehow they’re all the best bluegrass musicians. They start playing

“Doin’ my time”

A noise is heard by the front door. In bursts an older drunk man. Sam’s father. Sam backs off the microphone—scared. His father stomps through the studio, knocking the other players aside. He grabs Sam by the collar of his shirt and drags him out stumbling.

Sam and his Father are killed in a car crash on the way home. That ends the playing for these boys for a while.

Jump forward 35 years. This is BEFORE the break into Act 2. Jebb and his brother live/work together. They’re driving home, with a big sloppy yellow lab between them in the cab of an old truck. It’s clear that these guys have forgotten ENTIRELY about their music playin days.

Jebb and his brother pull up to an old cabin overlooking a ridge. The house Jebb grew up in. His parents are gone.

Later Jebb is at the supermarket. He’s tired. He stares at the meet shelf, analyzing bacon.

This scene is stylistic.

A lady reaches in front of him, bumping him, to grab some bacon.

On the radio in the super market, “doin’ my time” comes on, played by some older guys.

He picks up a pack of bacon. Sniffs it. Tilts his head back, thinking about the bacon.

He thinks—puts the bacon back on the shelf.

Then, amidst smelling another pack of bacon, he starts singing quietly to himself, unkowning.

“Gotta do my time, gotta do my time, with an achin heart, and a worried mind…. When that old judge, looked down and smiled, said I put you on that good road for a while, gotta do my time”

His eyes are still closed. He’s clearly in a trance. This is a funny scene. With two packs of bacon in his hands he looks up and belts out.

“GOTTA DO MY TIME!”

He snaps out of his trance.

This leads into the rest of the movie. Jebb and his Brother try to reunite the band and tour the state singing bluegrass music.

They never make it past practicing in their buddies recording studio.

Later a small group stops by their town and hears their sound—playing at a very small venue. By now they are slightly less bluegrass and a little more southern rock. None-the-less…they are burnin’. This group talks to them, loves their sound and adopts it.

Later, the group will be come The Eagles.

So, in conclusion, despite what is seen in the background here, this story is not about these dudes playing music, the bulk of it is about what happens in between when Jebb hears the music and they meet the eagles—the reasons why they don’t go big ultimately are more crucial than them going big at all.

It’s an adventure movie, that never really leaves the hometown, about a group of old guys.