Be Here to Love Me (2004)

I'd not heard van Zandt before discovering this documentary. A lonely soul, in interview commenting on a statement that many of his songs are sad, saying "they're not all sad...some are hopeless", seemingly without irony.

A slew of known musicians gather to comment on van Zandt's visions, his problems with alcohol and of how he has influenced people. At the same time, the filmmakers have told a straightforward tale of a man haunted.

This documentary turned me on to van Zandt's music, and his legacy is apparently notable within the country and folk music fold. I'll recommend it not only for music fans. van Zandt came from a period in time where country and folk met with more modern ages, the 1950s merging into the 1960s, where alcohol met other drugs and lyrics changed.