Jandek on Corwood

Jandek on Corwood is a documentary about veteran reclusive folk/blues artist Jandek. Unlike most popular music documentaries, the subject himself is not seen in the film in any way; instead, various critics, disc jockeys and journalists, many of whom have had some contact with the notoriously reclusive artist, discuss Jandek, his equally mysterious independent record label Corwood Industries, and his music (which reached 39 albums at the end of 2004). While Jandek himself does not appear in the movie (except in the form of the pictures on many of his album covers and in excerpts from the only phone interview he has ever done in his career, with musician and writer John Trubee for Spin Magazine in 1985), he did authorize and endorse the project through Corwood Industries (any correspondence to the artist is usually signed "Corwood" rather than "Jandek"), allow the filmmakers to use whatever recordings from his discography they saw fit, and suggest people that could be interviewed for the documentary. The film ends with the mention of the release of his 2002 album I Threw You Away; after the film's release in theaters, this album and its succeeding four releases are excerpted in a bonus feature on the DVD. The film only saw limited theatrical release, as the producers planned to distribute the film primarily as a DVD. The DVD release contains several bonus features, including an album cover commentary on Jandek's albums from 1978 to 2001, the full tape of the John Trubee interview, all of the printed reviews of Jandek's albums from OP and Option magazines, and other materials.