Pete Droge - "Small Time Blues"

"The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." -Lester Bangs, Almost Famous

I spent some time with Almost Famous this weekend. I remember that I only discovered it maybe 8 years ago after hearing Dave Grohl's silly rendition of "Tiny Dancer." And yeah, that scene on the bus really is pretty magical.

There is very little about this movie that isn't brilliant. The dialogue, the characters, the casting, the story, the song selection... All of it is just perfectly put together. And though I've never been a rock god, or a band aid, or an aspiring rock writer, I can identify with the characters more so than any movie in recent memory... because they're so real.

With this particular viewing, I seemed to pay a lot attention to the music... and there's a scene in which Penny Lane and William Miller (the Enemy) are walking through the Riot House, and the Enemy happens upon a duet. In the movie, you can only hear six seconds of it before the scene changes, but it's a gorgeous six seconds.

So, thanks to my super-advanced research skills (google and youtube), I found the song in its entirety. It and the artist who performs it, Pete Droge, are kind of an anomaly because they aren't from the movie's time period. Yet it fits perfectly.

Fast fact: After more "research," I found out that that scene was a tribute to Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris.