AUSTIN, Texas — “I think there would have been no Texas scene if it hadn’t been for them.”

So says Michael Martin Murphey in New Mexico Rain: The Story of Bill and Bonnie Hearne (https://vimeo.com/295706333), just one of many friends and colleagues who voice their love for the legendary husband-and-wife duo Bill and Bonnie Hearne on this 26-minute film, targeted for release in 2019.

Other performers emerged from the Austin alternative country boom of the early ’70s with much more public visibility. Yet as this unforgettable 26-minute documentary demonstrates, the bond shared by the Bill and Bonnie, steeped in Texas roots music and weathered by time, transcends whatever benefits, more fame might deliver.

Since their first date in 1968 up to Bonnie’s passing in 2017, the couple performed thousands of times, first in Austin, where they met as university students, and since 1979 in their adopted home near Santa Fe, New Mexico. Bill’s prowess on acoustic guitar, Bonnie’s skill on keyboards and their expressive solo and harmonized vocals have moved countless fans as well as their peers in the business. And in 2017 the New Mexico Music Commission honored them with its Platinum Music Award, calling them “an institution in New Mexico’s musical landscape … with their unique blend of Southwest Americana, bluegrass, country and swing.”

Though they once toured extensively, Bill and Bonnie spent most of their later years together making local appearances in Santa Fe, Taos and nearby areas. Yet there was a magic to these performances in which their spirit and musicianship could be appreciated at close range.

This quality radiates throughout New Mexico Rain, amplified by photos from their youth, recent concert footage, conversation with the pair and the modest and sometimes tearful appreciations from those who knew and worked with them. “I was immediately drawn to the story and the path their very challenging life had taken,” says the project’s award-winning director Bunee Tomlinson. “I hope this film will give music lovers everywhere a glimpse of the great glimpse contributions and legacy of Bill and Bonnie Hearne.”

New Mexico Rain: The Story of Bill and Bonnie Hearne has been submitted for consideration to a number of film festivals in 2019 including SXSW.