American Masters opens its 26th season with the revealing biography of a conflicted, truth-seeking troubadour who, with guitar in hand, stood up for what he believed in and challenged us all to do the same. Three-time Emmy®-nominated filmmaker Kenneth Bowser examines one of American history’s most iconic folk music heroes and political agitators in Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune, premiering on witf on January 23 at 10 p.m.
As the United States continues to engage in foreign wars, Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune is a timely tribute to an unlikely American hero whose music is as relevant today as it was in the 1960s. Phil Ochs was moved by the conviction that he and his music would change the world. Unyielding in his political principals and unbending in his artistic vision, Ochs tirelessly fought the good fight for peace and justice, in both song and action, throughout his short life (12/19/1940 – 4/9/1976). The tragedies of 1968, including the deaths of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy and the violent events at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, changed the country and changed Ochs, who sank deep into depression and alcoholism. This, and a familial tendency to bipolar disorder, led to his suicide at the age of 35.
Inspired by Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Elvis Presley and John Wayne, Ochs rose to fame in the early 60s during the height of the folk-and-protest song movement, wielding only a battered guitar, a clear voice and the quiver of his razor-sharp songs. As prolific as he was passionate, he released seven albums and wrote hundreds of songs, the best known of which include “I Ain't Marching Anymore,” “Changes,” “Crucifixion,” “Draft Dodger Rag,” “Love Me, I’m a Liberal,” “Outside of a Small Circle of Friends,” “Power and the Glory,” “The War is Over,” and “There But for Fortune,” famously covered by Joan Baez. American Masters Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune is buoyed by these anti-war movement anthems and melodies, which play the role of film narrator, giving contextual depth to the unfolding saga of Ochs’s politics and personal life.
In the film, Joan Baez, Tom Hayden, Pete Seeger, Sean Penn, Peter Yarrow, Christopher Hitchens, Ed Sanders, and others who knew or were inspired by Ochs tell stories of political passions that were equal parts idealism, conviction and fantasy – mixed together with a big ego and often wild disorganization. These interviews together with photos, film clips and historic live performances reveal that Ochs’s lasting legacy in both music and politics ultimately mirrored the complexities and contradictions of the country he loved – and his life, sadly, reflects the arc of the turbulent times in which he lived.
