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Going to new lengths, heights to bring music to TV, Internet

'Music In High Places': Rock takes rough road

February 8, 2001
Web posted at: 12:45 p.m. EST (1745 GMT)

Collective Soul's performance in Morocco can be seen on
Collective Soul's performance in Morocco can be seen on "Music in High Places"  

In this story:

Mixing music, culture

Songs in nature

RELATED STORIES, SITES icon



(CNN) -- Lear jets and limousines: the preferred mode of transportation for rock stars around the world.

So, when Collective Soul, Shawn Colvin and Brian McKnight found themselves getting around on camels, Jeeps and makeshift rafts, they were taken back a bit.

Yet that's exactly how they got around while taking part in "Music in High Places." The show, airing Friday nights and weekends on DirecTV and Internet accessible (musicinhighplaces.msn.com/), follows musicians as they travel through historic areas and then captures them as they offer acoustic, intimate performances.

The experience was a first for some of the participants.

"I'd never ridden a horse, and all of a sudden I'm on a camel," says Collective Soul's Ed Roland, who straddled the humped beast while on a four-day trip in Morocco. The band's experience and performances can be seen on Friday's episode of "High Places."

"It was amazing," he says. "It's one of those places I don't think you'd ever say, 'Well, I'm going to have a family holiday and take them to Morocco.' But going there and visiting was absolutely amazing. I wouldn't trade it for anything."

Mixing music, culture

Colvin, who journeyed to French Polynesia for the show's fourth episode, was equally impressed. "I felt very lucky," she says. "It was a spot I'd always wanted to visit and it's really beautiful."

She also enjoyed learning about the Polynesian culture.

Morocco natives dancing to the music of Collective Soul
Morocco natives dancing to the music of Collective Soul  

"We get kind of stuck in our own lives and the way we live and our country, not to mention our towns and neighborhoods," she says. "So it's always great to go someplace really different and remember that people grow up there differently and live there differently."

"Music in High Places" debuted last October, featuring Alanis Morissette at the Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Arizona. The show's premiere marked a milestone for entertainment industry veteran Parvene Michaels, who says the show was 10 years in the making.

"It's been a very long process," she says. "The first phase of it was presenting the idea to some of the artist community and getting their support."

Then she had to line up a production partner, and Michaels' search stopped when she came to Tall Pony Productions. The California- based company produces the show along with TBA Entertainment of Nashville, Tennessee, and Michaels' own California company, Innovative Media Productions.

Songs in nature

Michaels is pleased with the dual broadcast opportunities -- TV and the Internet.

"I'm really proud that this is a show lands on a lot of different platforms," Michaels says. "One experience of that artist's journey is the television show, but then you can go deeper using the ... Web site and get a different interactive experience.

Collective Soul's singer Ed Roland
Collective Soul's singer Ed Roland  

"This is not an educational show to preach to you, to give you a nutshell-like documentary in one hour," she says. "The idea is to give you the experience of what it's like if you went there."

"Music in High Places" underscores a lifelong interest in music and nature, Michaels says.

"My father was a cultural anthropologist and my mother was a folk singer and painter," she says. "We would spend summers in the High Sierras and I would play a lot of guitar in the meadows. I always used to think that was the most incredible experience to be playing out in nature."

That memory came rushing back while crews filmed Morissette at the Canyon de Chelly, where her father had worked with Native Americans and a place her mother had visited while battling cancer.

"There was one moment where I thought it was my legacy and it was their legacy," Michaels says. "I thought it was an incredible moment, almost like seeing the baby come right out of the womb. It really took my breath away and it was so much larger than my vision."

Viewers wishing to learn more about "High Places" also can visit The Grammy Foundation Web site (www.grammy.com). A portion of the proceeds from "Music in High Places" has been contributed to The Grammy Foundation, which is a non-profit arm of the Recording Academy that benefits music and art-based education.



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RELATED SITES:
"Music in High Places"
Official Grammy site

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