ETHAN HAWKE vs. PHOSPHORESCENT

With a career that spans three decades and four Academy Award nominations, Ethan Hawke is among the premiere names in film. First making his mark as a young actor in movies such as Dead Poet’s Society , Reality Bites , and Before Sunrise , Hawke has remained one of the most consistent American actors, going on to win further acclaim for his roles in such works as Gattaca , Training Day , and Boyhood . Throughout his career the Austin-born actor has remained prolific—in 2018 alone he also stars in the films First Reformed , Stockholm , and Juliet , Naked—not only on the screen, but as a stage actor, screenwriter, filmmaker, and novelist.

With Blaze, Hawke returns to the director’s chair for his first feature narrative in over a decade. Based on a memoir by Blaze Foley’s onetime lover, Sybil Rosen, Blaze depicts moments from the troubled life of outlaw country singer Foley, whose work just recently has started to garner a respect and following he never knew before his death from a mysterious gunshot wound in 1989, at the age of 39. In the film, Foley is played by musician Ben Dickey, a first-time actor whose work here won him the highest acting award given at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. He’s joined by Alia Shawkat, Sam Rockwell, Steve Zahn, and Kris Kristofferson. Actor-musician Charlie Sexton, known for the 1985 hit “Beat’s So Lonely” and as a member of Arc Angels and Bob Dylan’s band, has a remarkable turn as Foley’s close friend, the similarly tragic country singer Townes Van Zandt.

Matthew Houck, better known under his recording moniker Phosphorescent, is returning this fall with a new album, , on Dead Oceans. The self-produced album is his first in five years, following, which found his distinctive brand of country-threaded rock reaching the most listeners yet. also marked the Alabama native’s return to the South: the album was recorded in his new self-built studio in Nashville, where he now lives after a stint in New York.