By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
The heartwarming drama
"The Neon Highway" is a story about second chances, mending broken relationships, and following your dreams.
Rob Mayes ("The Desperate Riders") plays an aspiring singer/songwriter named Wayne Collins. He and his brother/music partner Lloyd (T.J. Power, "Resort to Love") were thisclose to becoming the next big country music sensations. Their song, "The Neon Highway" sure had hit written all over it.
Then, after a rousing performance at Bobby’s Nashville roadhouse, a tragic car accident left Lloyd partially paralyzed and strained their relationship. Years have passed. Now, Wayne is barely making ends meet working as a telecommunications installer.
He lives in Georgia with his supportive wife Ginny (Jennifer Bowles, TV's "Tales of the Walking Dead") who is a teacher, their college bound son and their young daughter Angie (Presley Drew Miller).
As luck would have it, Wayne is sent to hook up cable at a junky looking house.
He's greeted at the door by a disheveled, old geezer named Claude Allen (an excellent Beau Bridges, TV's "Lessons in Chemistry"). Turns out Claude is an old country music legend whose best days are way behind him. The only things he owns are the house, an original White Falcon guitar and plenty of memories.
Wayne tells Claude about his short-lived music career and suddenly Claude's whiskey glazed eyes come into focus especially after hearing him play a few bars of a song.
Claude had washed his hands with the music industry, but he still knows talent when he sees it and Wayne has rekindled his interest. Claude believes they could blow back into Nashville and make them take notice again.
Wayne is pumped at the opportunity to give things a go and likes the idea of being partners with Claude, especially since he can reconnect with producers and managers and get things rolling again.
For a minute, it seems as if Claude will. However, Claude fails to tell Wayne that he burned a lot of bridges in his day. The very people he thought he could reach out to, don't want to have anything to do with him. Plus, the country music scene looks and sounds much different than when Claude was on top.
There are still some people who believe in Claude's comeback. They include his old flame Pepper (Sandra Lee-Oian Thomas) who used to perform with Claude and now runs a small motel near Nashville and hangs out with her brother Ray (Sam Hennings, "Juanita").
Both are thrilled to see Claude after all these years. They still treat him with the good old country respect he used to get.
Just when it seems that every door is shut on Claude and Wayne and they can't get the money to pay for their studio time, Wayne comes up with a genius plan to get their song, "The Neon Highway" to the public and it works better than anyone could have imagined.
“The Neon Highway," co-written by director/cinematographer
William Wages (TV’s “The Magnificent Seven”) and
Phillip Bellury (Short: "A Ride to Heaven") is a compelling drama.
The movie strikes the right chords, with Beau Bridges who has the mean old ornery goat role down pat. Additionally, country stars
Lee Brice and Pam Tillis infuse this captivating production with a weighty authenticity that will surely resonate with country music enthusiasts and beyond.
Look At This Trailer For
"THE NEON HIGHWAY"
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Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA), The American Film Institute (AFI), and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.
