Ibrahim Khider
This is a British make-believe version of the Coal Miner's Daughter, broken-down to a two season mini-series where Jimmy Nail plays Jed Sheppard. a would be Loretta Lynn and James Wilby, aptly enough plays, Ade Lynn who is our Doolittle Lynn.Set in post-Industrial Newcastle Upon Tyne, Jed Sheppard is a lathe operator in the dying twilight of the ship building industry, just around the corner from layoffs and factory shutdown. However, in the wee hours, Sheppard plays and home records catchy country and western songs. Sheppard's sister swipes one of his demo tapes and sends it off to a major label for consideration. A loose canon executive, Lynn gets a hold of the demo tape and right away thinks he has star material.The humble, Newcastle "Hillbilly" meets the crafty and tenacious Lynn who guides our "Loretta Lynn" through the seedy world of recording studios, record executives, and radio industry nepotism to eventual airplay and fame. Sheppard and Lynn have a stormy relationship for the latter's penchant for substance abuse and angering suicidal drug dealers.In some ways, Crocodile Shoes is spun like a fairly tale and other ways, it is a rags-to-riches tale. I was delighted to see Spender regulars Berwick Kaler and Sammy Johnson play fellow out-of-work blue collar workers who also have parallel tales of post-Industrial Newcastle woes. The Spender series gave me a taste of Northern England with those accents and the architecture and Crocodile shoes gives me my fix. I was in University when Crocodile shoes came out and also worked in a Tower record store after and remember customers asking for the soundtrack CD.This show does make it to Nashville, including the Grand 'Ol Opry, so my comparison with Loretta Lynn is apt.My favorite part of the series is the beginning, where it is more about Sheppard being an undiscovered gem while haunting, country-style guitar chords follow our hero. (I have personally witnessed such a rise with another musician.) The Bravo TV channel played endless bits of the Crocodile Shoes soundtrack including "Cowboy Dreams" so I was already hooked. Is the music any good? I am not a Country Music enthusiast, but I do like the soundtrack. It is catchy and well-crafted and comes from a place of reverence for the music.I felt the drugs and intrigue plot was a bit over-the-top and did not belong in this story. The Coal Miner's Daugther shows us that a rags-to-riches music industry and stardom story is just that-story enough. Drug-dealers-and-cops-gun fights are unnecessary and does not make this tale any better.Jimmy Nail's character is likeable, folksy, and without guile, sort of like Lorretta Lynn was in her biopic, portrayed by Sissy Spacek. James Wilby plays an excellent, slime ball record executive who is a necessary evil to facilitate Sheppard's rise to fame. Too bad Wilby was not in Season 2 of CS. On the upside, this series is on DVD!
ttraders
Jimmy Nail is superb as a Geordie lathe operator cum song writer who tries for the big time. Pathos and dry humour (a Nail trademark)abound in a colourful and varied story which successfully mixes action, romance, mystery and music. The music, performed and mostly written by Nail, who also wrote the series, is excellent. It makes the story all the more believable - the soundtrack album really did make a singing star out of Jimmy Nail. North American viewers may find the Newcastle accents hard to follow.
