The soundtrack yields many pearls as screenwriter Carol Heikkinen (Empire Records, Center Stage) charts her musically-inclined-young-adults groove and Bogdanovich shepherds rising stars (including Samantha Mathis, River Phoenix, and Sandra Bullock all doing their own singing) as aspiring talents in Nashville. Real-life singers such as K.T. Oslin and Webb Wilder costar; and several more appear as themselves, including Pam Tillis and Trisha Yearwood.

Q&A with Peter Bogdanovich and Samantha Mathis following Wed Oct 3 screening