Not happy with the relentlessly grim depiction of Westerners by Avedon, a group of Austin actors wrote monologues inspired by Avedon’s photos, instilling them with the personality and warmth they felt Avedon had failed to capture. The play became a popular hit, running for six years throughout the Southwest and culminating with a performance at Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

      Purvis was a fan of the play for years, but realized when he decided to put it on film that the monologues needed a cohesive thread. With co-writers Jesse Sublett and Tom Huckabee, he added the characters of a husband and wife filmmaking team (played by noted British actors Kenneth Cranham and Amanda Root) who are shooting a documentary on modern Texas life for British television. As the filmmakers are drawn deeper into the lives of the local characters, they are forced to examine their own rocky relationship as well as the effect the intrusive nature of their work has on the people they meet.

      All the original stage actors appear in the film, most notably a gratingly hilarious Marco Perella in a double role as Mickey, a local huckster, and Coach Cruthers, a maniacal high-school coach who savagely tongue-lashes his losing team at half-time because, in Texas, football isn’t a game, it’s a religion; and a moving C.K. McFarland as the Pie Lady, Sayrah, who recounts her awakening to life after the death of her overbearing father and uncaring husband. Perfectly in sync with the tone of the film is its outstanding, all-Texas soundtrack featuring new songs by Lyle Lovett, Waylon Jennings, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Jimmie Vaughn.