Matthews Visits "Winn-Dixie"

Dave Matthews will appear in Because of Winn-Dixie a feature film directed by Wayne Wang (Smoke, Maid in Manhattan), which is currently in post-production with plans for a theatrical release later this year.

"What originally drew me to it, after reading the book and the script, was I thought it was a really sweet story, and it's a small story," Matthews says. "By no means do I think it will have the effect of judging me as an actor as if I've thrown myself into some giant spectacle. It's a small spectacle."

The role is actually Matthews' second, though it might be his first to be seen by viewers nationwide. He had a part in the update of Where the Red Fern Grows, which was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival last May, but due to financial troubles has yet to see a theatrical release.

In Winn-Dixie, based upon the popular young adult novel by Kate Dicamillo, the DMB frontman plays Otis, an ex-con drifter who arrives in Naomi, Florida, and settles in as the owner of a pet shop, where he imparts his wisdom to Opal, the young girl at the film's center.

Matthews also plans to contribute new songs to the film's soundtrack; his character has trouble stringing thoughts together without a guitar in his hand. "I always said that if I ever do a part in a movie, I would refuse to play music," Matthews says. "But I realized that this is the perfect part for me. I got to write some songs and, in a way, try not to be myself. Although I can't really escape the way that I write, it was fun to pretend."

Next for Matthews will be the writing process for the next Dave Matthews Band album, the follow-up to 2002's Busted Stuff.

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Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

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