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January 16, 2007
Ozark Mountain Hoe-Down Featured in Upcoming Movie "War Eagle"
The Ozark Mountain Hoe-Down is not your typical country music show, and producer Vincent Insalaco noticed! The Hoe-Down has been a part of Eureka Springs for over 25 years now, and is still performing over 200 shows every year. This show sets the standards for what family entertainment should be with high energy, oustanding musicians, hilarious comedy, and an overall top quality 2 and a half hour show.

When the film crew rolled into Eureka Springs, they were looking for locations to film. For one scene, actress Misti Traya needed a stage and the producers were looking for a top notch band with a professional sound system that would meet industry standards. What they didn't realize is that they would find much more than "standards" at the Ozark Mountain Hoe-Down.

Part of the crew dropped in the theater one night during a show to see what the Hoe-Down had to offer. They only stayed a few minutes and they were sure they had found their stage. After meeting with owner, Randall George, the Hoe-Down was selected to be the location for their "stage scene".

Plans began to form regarding the times, location and wardrobe for the shoot. What hadn't been decided was the song that Misti Traya should be performing in the scene. The whole idea of this movie was to use as much of Arkansas as possible for two reasons; to keep the film within the set budget and to give an accurate portrayal of Arkansas and Eureka Springs. A bluegrass song that the Hoe-Down already had in the show was going to be the featured song, but the license to use the song in the movie was much too expensive. During a scheduled meeting, the crew found out that the Hoe-Down had some talented songwriters of its own.

Randall George was asked if he could write the song that would be performed during this scene. He didn't have much time, but he wasn't about to turn down the offer. Randall teamed up with singer/songwriter Leslie Wright (also an entertainer at the Hoe-Down), and together they wrote the music and lyrics to "Love's After You". With time running out, they recorded the song in the theater with Randall playing all the instruments and Leslie singing all the vocals.

They presented "Love's After You" to the producer and director who were thrilled with it - so thrilled in fact, that they didn't even want to re-record the demo. They wanted the song just like it was...straight from the Hoe-Down stage, recorded on our laptop studio.

When crew arrived at the Hoe-Down in August to film the shoot, Leslie and Misti began working with choreographers to stage the song. "Their ideas were great," Leslie said, "but it just wasn't they way we do things here." They were staging the song with dance moves more like a music video, rather than a live show where the peformers are used to reacting to the crowd. Misti was uncomfortable with the moves as well. "I'm an actress...not a dancer" she said as she laughed. They asked Leslie what would normally take place on stage if she were to perfom the song in the show. After watching, they decided that dance moves weren't needed after all. Leslie and Misti played off of each other as well as the live crowd watching the shoot, and the song was performed just like it would've been if the Hoe-Down had done it every night. It was fun, it had energy, and it was real. "Misti was a blast," said Leslie. "We had a lot of fun, and she was really sweet".

Post production has recently been finished on the film, and the crew is planning to bring the film to the Sundance Flim Festival this year. A soundtrack is also scheduled to be produced that will include the song "Love's After You" by Randall George and Leslie Wright. Be sure to watch the movie and see the entire band in the scene along with some extra footage of Leslie and Misti in the film. For more information on the movie, visit www.wareaglethemovie.com.