Telling Stories

Jessica Peters is a 27-year-old single mom from Hurst who makes her living as a data entry clerk for an oil and gas company. But in her spare time she’s making a documentary about the late great Dallas singer-songwriter Elliott Smith (above) -- and she’s close to finishing. The project is titled Strange Butterflies and there’s a cool story about her efforts on the Big D Little d blog.

“Peters' goal is to tell Smith's story through the people he impacted in the cities he lived; to that end, she put out a call for musicians from Smith's various home cities--Portland, NYC, Dallas and LA--to record Elliott Smith covers that would fit each city's footage,” writes Sam Machkovech on Big D Little d. Fort Worth’s own The Theater Fire has put together a cut for the project, “Say Yes” from Smith’s Either/Or. You can visit the Strange Butterflies MySpace page and find out more or make a contribution if you are so inclined.