The Vineyard scene ; G FORCE | KEN WENTWORTH AND LIZ WITHAM

The melding of music and film is nothing new, but two Martha'sVineyard-based filmmakers are hoping to bring the concept to thenext level with DocuTunes.TV, a grassroots Internet webcasting sitefeaturing original documentaries about music and music makers. Theirnew - and first - full-length release, "Kate Taylor - Tunes Fromthe Tipi and Other Songs From Home," focuses on the life and musicof Kate Taylor, a Vineyard resident and sister of James andLivingston Taylor. A screening of the documentary, plus a Q&A withKate Taylor and the filmmakers, will be held at the Coolidge CornerTheatre on Nov. 17. We spoke recently with husband-and-wife team LizWitham (Kate Taylor's daughter) and Ken Wentworth, in the gardenbehind their studio off Main Street in Vineyard Haven.

Q. Coming from such a talented family, why did you choose yourmom for a subject?

LW. I think that what people can relate to about her story arethe choices that she made. She took time off [to raise her kids]while she was really hot and her career could have soared. Now, at50-something, she's restarted her career.

KW. She just has this totally endearing spirit that when you meether, you gravitate toward her.

Q. What was your greatest challenge in making this film?

LW. At times, I found it difficult to piece together the storyfrom the perspective of someone who didn't know anything about her.. . . Trying to remove myself from knowing her as well as I do.

Q. To others, "Tunes From the Tipi" is merely a catchy title, butit was your reality. What was it like spending the summers of youryouth living in a tepee?

LW. Just living that close to the land and living outside . . .it was an amazing experience that I'm grateful to have had. Therewere a lot of people living in tepees when I was a kid. It was areally cool time, I think, in Vineyard history.

Q. You also do a series on DocuTunes.tv called "Vineyard Scene."What's so special about the music scene on Martha's Vineyard?

KW. As a community, music is very much respected here. . . . Ineach episode we try to show an aspect of the community and howeveryone supports each other.

LW. We feature amazing artists who have island connections -each of whom demonstrates a different facet of island life.

Q. Are movies and music a natural fit?

LW. Yes. When I was in high school, people would always ask methings like, what is [James Taylor's song] "Fire and Rain" about? Inoticed from a young age that people were very fascinated about thestories behind the songs.

KW. And it's fun filming music. It gives us a little relief fromthe heavy-hitting social-relevance films we've done on homelessness,mental illness, disability, death . . .

Q. You're talking about documentaries you've done for Film-TruthProductions, the umbrella organization for your artistic endeavors,right?

LW. When we first started out, the name Film-Truth was a play onthe concept of Cinema Verite, but then it just kind of seemed likemore of a mandate: Film the truth. Of course you can't really filmtruth because it's kind of subjective, but just finding things thatare real and showing them to the world . . . that is the mandate.

Interview was condensed and edited.