The story of Harry Smith's famous "Anthology of American Folk Music", in a documentary made by his assistant. Smith travelled across rural America and recorded traditional songs from the 1920's and early 1930's. His famous collection of recordings from provincial America was released in 1952. The film concentrates on the music, though it also includes a lot of words. Music professor Greil Marcus takes us through the intricacies of the anthology: its history, context and influence on music, from Bob Dylan to Sonic Youth, as well as society as a whole. The interviewed musicians, most of whom are two or three generations younger than the anthology, talk about the huge impact it had on them. Archival recordings and concert footage with the likes of Beck and Nick Cave are also featured. The documentary pays homage to the man Harry Smith, who was not only a music expert, but also a precursor of the New Age genre, an enthusiast of esotericism and Eastern philosophy, a painter, anthropologist, beatnik, and one of the most important experimental film makers of the last century.

She was Harry Smith's assistant from 1989 until his death in 1991. She is the director of the Harry Smith Archives which is dedicated to the
preservation and presentation of Smith's work. She works at the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, California. Her research and programming focus is on the history, preservation and presentation of alternative media and avant-garde film. "The Old Weird America: Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music" is her first full length feature documentary.

2006 The Old Weird America: Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music