Dusty & Stones
**Seen at the 2023 Atlanta Film Festival.
You can just tell whether a musician has a love for music. When he was looking for his subject for this film, director Jesse Rudoy- a DJ- was looking for an example of International country music that embodied the genre, and he was struggling to find it. Enter Dusty & Stones, a duo from the tiny African Kingdom of Swaziland he saw on YouTube. Once he connected with them, he knew he found what he was looking for, and his documentary confirms that for 84 wonderful minutes.
“Dusty & Stones” is a great underdog story, as Gazi (“Dusty”) and Lindokuhle (“Stones”) take their first steps out of Swaziland, and into the consciousness of American country music culture. There are times when their story plays like a real-life “This is Spinal Tap,” but not because of them, but the bigotry two Black African country singers face against a very white American culture in the genre. What was absurd in that comedy classic is a terrible, depressing low for Gazi and Lindokuhle, as their dreams of playing (and succeeding) in America feel dashed by the end of their set at the Texas Sound International Country Music Contest, where they are one of sixteen international artists featured. The duo’s sincerity is what illuminates the casual cruelty they face when they aren’t made aware of changes to their performance time, or the backing band pushes back on what they want when it comes to playing THEIR music. Even how they are “rewarded” in the end feels like a poor consolation prize after they more than showed themselves well, given the circumstances. The joke is on the contest, however, because seeing their joy- and that of their friends and family back home- as a result of the win is enough to have us smiling by the end.
I think one of my favorite moments of film this year is bound to be watching Gazi and Lindokuhle in Nashville, where they have been asked to come and record with an accomplished country music producer. Think about some of your favorite musical moments in film- moments where the magic and connective power of music is illustrated- and this is up there with those moments. The producer and backing band here treat them, and their music, with respect and care while also giving them a memory they will never forget, and a great recording of music that isn’t just a personal expression of their love of the genre, but who they are. It crystallizes what Rudoy saw in them. This reminded me of the time in college when I recorded my friends’s band for my Senior Project- we didn’t make as great a recording as these two do, but feeling that energy of capturing a moment in audio form together is one you never forget. “Dusty & Stones”- whose music is available to stream- is a triumph of musical storytelling.
