1976: While pioneering groups The Runaways and The Slits were rampaging and rocking out in Los Angeles and London there was another all girl group blazing trails through the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee.  

 

The Reed Sisters: an American Story traces the life and times of the trailblazin’ Reed Sisters, a teenage Filipina-Hawaiian Mormon Country-Western Rock and Pop group, and their dogged attempt to achieve a dream of being big stars.

 

Bound by a contract to become “rich and famous” the teenage Reed Sisters sang and danced their way through the 1970’s and early 80’s in a homegrown musical variety show that aired on public access TV in Oak Ridge, TN. When one of the sisters goes missing their mother insists “the show must go on!” 

 

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The Reed Sisters--Filipino natives by way of Hawaii moved to the rural South and formed a musical variety act that aired on the public access channel for over 5 years. Along with their long running TV show, they also performed live stage shows at several local venues including their very own Reed’s Country Music Theatre in the Smoky Mountains near Pigeon Forge,TN--home of Dolly Parton's musical theme park Dollywood. 

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The movie is a feature-length documentary that weaves together a filmmaker’s quest to discover what happened to the Reed Sisters through an in-depth, entertaining and moving story that incorporates enticing video footage from the  variety shows, photos, newspaper articles, fan mail, handmade dioramas with animation, interviews with fans and interviews with the sisters reflecting on how it all started, their lives on stage and behind the scenes, and where they all ended up.

 

In the microcosm of a small town public access TV show lies a  story that considers identity, the consequences of striving for the “American Dream”, the bond between sisters, and finally, what really matters in the long run?

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The Reed Sisters Variety Show aired on public access TV in Oak Ridge, TN between 1976-1984 and was known by only a handful of people but those that were lucky enough to find it wouldn’t forget it.