Louder Than Guns

No Country For New Nashville2.5

NASHVILLE FILM FESTIVAL SCREENINGI’m a bit torn on this doc. On one hand, I greatly admire Ketch Secor and Old Crown Medicine Show using their platform to speak out about gun violence, and taking to heart an issue that so deeply plagues America. It hits close to him too, as the band are local and the doc is anchored through the lens of Nashville’s tragic Covenant School shooting (I literally watched this while sitting next to the parents of a surviving child, whose classmates were killed in that shooting, so it’s really hard to view it without deep personal outrage).On the other, I wish everyone involved felt emboldened to be more forceful in landing their message. The director and team were here to discuss it, and stressed that this film was not intended to be political, but for whatever reason, they largely seem to want to ignore that politicians are the only people with the power to enact meaningful change in regards to guns. Sure, changing the minds of the public is an important component in that, and sure, this might be aimed at people who aren’t as strongly anti-gun already as myself (or Old Crow fans who probably lean more right than left), but I’m skeptical that talking about the topic so safely is going to accomplish much, or change that many minds (it was actually a little horrifying to hear the journalist in the film, David Greene, suggest that this dialogue made him more pro-gun; like wtf are we even doing here).I still give it some credit for being well-intentioned and trying to facilitate a dialogue. But with the frequency that gun violence is happening in this county, it just doesn’t feel like this pace is fast enough to make the change we desperately need.Review by Philip Obenschain

The Belcourt Theatre

Mon, May 11 at 8:00pmPart of Music City MondaysMon, May 11 at 8:00pm: Pre-screening panel discussion with Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show; Katy Dieckhaus, mother of Covenant student Evelyn Dieckhaus and community engagement coordinator for Safer Tennessee; and Clay Stauffer, senior minister, Woodmont Christian Church and author of "What the World Needs Now: Virtue and Character in an Age of Chaos;" moderated by Blake Farmer, host of Nashville Public Radio's "This is Nashville." Doug Pray, LOUDER THAN GUNS director, and David Greene, host of KCRW's "Left, Right and Center" and former host of NPR's "Morning Edition," will also be in attendance

🎙️Joe Curdy🎬4.5

I suspect many passionate viewers familiar with America’s gun violence problem will have strong feelings approaching director Doug Pray’s LOUDER THAN GUNS documentary. Whatever expectations viewers will undoubtedly bring to the film – one thing is made very clear: America has a gun control communication problem. Pray’s film tackles the communication logjam with an earnestness that is largely absent in public discourse. Sidestepping the polemic cacophony that all-too-easily accompanies any discussion on the 2nd Amendment and school shootings around the country – is Grammy Award-winning Blue Grass musician Ketch Secor, co-founder and current frontman of the longtime Americana string band Old Crow Medicine Show, based in Nashville. After the mass shooting on March 27, 2023, at The Covenant School, in Green Hills, a neighborhood in Nashville, which left three schoolchildren and three adults dead, Secor felt compelled to write an op-ed in the New York Times entitled, “Country Music Can Lead America Out of Its Obsession with Guns.” Widely discussed in the media from MSNBC and beyond, Secor’s op-ed caught the attention of NPR radio journalist David Greene, resulting in the two teaming up with Pray to open a dialogue about gun rights and gun violence across the country in the hope of finding common ground.Anyone expecting immediate solutions from LOUDER THAN GUNS is putting the proverbial cart in front of the horse, failing to understand that before any meaningful change can take effect, an equally meaningful and civil dialogue needs to occur without the fearmongering, and political tribalism that usually co-opt these discussions. As Secor and Greene sit down around the country while touring with the Old Crow Medicine Show in barbershops, BBQ joints, Churches, and Gun stores with concerned Americans on both sides of the political spectrum, many directly affected by gun violence, a meaningful dialogue unfolds as gun violence activists and 2nd Amendment proponents achieve something rarely seen: common ground. But it is Secor’s affable, avuncular charm, interspersed with his genuine curiosity that puts many of these roundtable discussions at ease, striking the right balance with participants who are passionate one way or another, providing an example for today’s lawmakers that civil discourse is always possible with such a polarizing issue. No; LOUDER THAN GUNS is not a panacea for gun violence in America, but it provides a glimmer of hope in an increasingly polemic culture that finding common ground and approaching this issue with empathy and peace can move the needle closer to a real solution. LOUDER THAN GUNS is proof that how we converse with one another is arguably just as important than just forcing through legislation to address gun violence in America.