American Interior

A tour doc with a difference, as Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys takes a solo trip through the Mississippi basin on the trail of his distant ancestor John Evans, singing for his supper en route. Evans was an eighteenth-century Welsh separatist who believed in the existence of a tribe of Welsh-speaking Native Americans, the descendants of the legendary Prince Madog.

He was, of course, wrong. But Evans’s journey into the unknown is just the sort of madcap quest to inspire a psychedelic troubadour like Rhys. The result is self-indulgent – the songs get repetitive, as do the vox-pop interviews with punters telling us how great Gruff is. But Evans’s story is remarkable, and Rhys’s run-ins with members of the Mandan people – including the last  surviving speaker of their native tongue – are eye-opening and heartfelt. ‘American Interior’ is part rambling home movie, part intimate rock-doc and part informative history lesson. It’s surprising how comfortably the three fit together