Film about Sandman, a rappin’ cowboy with Montana roots, part of Big Sky Film Fest

Published: February 6, 2011

“Roll Out, Cowboy,” a documentary film about Chris “Sandman” Sand, a truck-driving, country hip-hop artist with roots in Charlo and North Dakota, will be screened during Big Sky Film Festival in Missoula.

Since Chris grew up around the corner from Lively Times headquarters, and portions of the film were shot in our neighborhood, we asked him to fill us in on the award-winning documentary.

LT: "Roll Out Cowboy" has been screened at more than 30 festivals since it debuted at the Marfa Film Festival in 2010, and has won a half-dozen awards. Are you surprised by its success?

Sandman: I'm surprised only because I've heard that only one in every hundred independent films gets selected for most festivals. That “Roll Out, Cowboy” was selected over 30 times is awesome, and that it's won multiple awards is amazing to me. Director Elizabeth Lawrence, with help from editor Elizabeth Ross, and producer Warner Boutin, deserves the accolades, though. She's got skills.

LT: How has its success affected your musical career?

Sandman: ROC's success has been a boon to my career. It's easier to book gigs. For instance, tomorrow I have an Oklahoma City show that came about merely because the documentary showed there last summer. I have a built-in crowd waiting for me in a town where I've never played.

Unfortunately, I was busy driving truck for most of 2010 and missed over 20 film fests. I could have better capitalized on the doc's success by attending and performing at each one of the screenings. Instead I chose to be loyal to my job, ’cause I needed money more than notoriety.

LT: How has growing up in the sticks – both in North Dakota and Charlo – shaped your concerns, and your approach to music making?

Sandman: Being a raised-rural, north-country westerner has shaped me in countless ways. Helping dad with farm work meant listening to AM radio. George Strait, Randy Travis, Reba McEntire, The Oak Ridge Boys, etc., all informed my songwriting. Being raised around animals and agriculture gave me a palette of "country" metaphors to draw from.

I feel like my middle- and high-school years on the Flathead Reservation offered many gifts, too – humor being the most profound. My Salish and Kootenai neighbors and classmates seemed to be always cracking jokes – humor as survival, humor as art, humor as truth, or whatnot. They used it like a multi-tool or a navigational device. My lyricism, at its best, emulates what I learned from my friends on the Rez.

Also, I feel like urban culture reached reservations earlier than other rural areas, which was fortunate for a white kid like me. From Muhammad Ali, to breakdance flicks, to Michael Jackson, black and Hispanic culture found a toehold here, especially among young American Indians. It took me longer to catch on, but when it clicked I didn't look back.

I'll add that I believe that Montana's geography shaped my eclecticism. We've got SO many facets: steep mountains, deep rivers, lakes, rolling hills, valleys, plains, badlands, icy creeks, hot springs. The land has infused me with its seemingly infinite sky and legendary distaste for fences.

LT: The tour documented in the film was inspired by Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. Do you usually twine politics and music? If so, how has the current political climate influenced your songs?

Sandman: I twine politics with music when I'm either pissed about certain social policies or inspired by someone's courage in the face of injustice. I've always fought for the "little guy." The 2011 political climate befuddles me, though. Part of the time I'm pissed and the other part of the time I'm inspired. For now, political songs are incubating.

LT: How many hours of footage were shot to make this 75-minute film, and what was it like to have a film crew in your life for a year? Do you miss them?

Sandman: I'm not sure exactly how many hours were shot, over a hundred. I enjoyed having a film crew around. I miss the filmmakers but not the cameras.

LT: You've rapped in the Mission Valley, where you spent your teenage years. Do family and friends here seem appreciative or baffled by what you're up to?

Sandman: Friends and family are both baffled and appreciative. It's complicated. I've been rapping less lately, so maybe my songs will seem less odd as time goes on. Then again, my country songs are becoming weirder.

Perhaps my music will always be a conundrum. The genius of what Elizabeth did with “Roll Out, Cowboy” is that it hints that there's a glimmer of intelligence behind the irreverence.

On screen: “Roll Out, Cowboy” makes its Montana debut at 9:45 p.m. Feb. 13 at the Wilma Theater in Missoula, as part of the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. A question-and-answer session with Chris Sand and director and producer Elizabeth Lawrence follows the screening. The film is a candidate for the festival’s Big Sky Award (www.bigskyfilmfest.org).

For details, go to www.rolloutcowboy.com.