What do Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Vernon Reid, Laurie Anderson and Harvey Keitel all have in common? They extol the talent of singer-songwriter Garland Jeffreys in a new documentary now streaming.
Music legend Garland Jeffreys dreamed of a more inclusive, less racist society and delivered his vision via song.
His mission lives on a new documentary, “Garland Jeffreys: The King of In Between,” now streaming. Despite being a legendary talent, you may never have heard of Jeffreys, now 82, who retired from performing in 2019.
But some big musical names you have heard of revere him. Bruce Springsteen, in the documentary, places Jeffreys in “the great singer-songwriter tradition of Dylan and Neil Young … one of the American greats.”
Others who sing his praise in the film: guitarist Vernon Reid (Living Colour), actor Harvey Keitel, musicians Graham Parker and Alejandro Escovedo, as well as Laurie Anderson, widow of the late Lou Reed (he’s seen in photos and heard in the movie, too).
Reed, a New Yorker like Jeffreys, “Lou really admired Garland, as well as loved him,” Anderson says in the film.
How can I see ‘Garland Jeffreys: The King of In Between’?
The film is still playing some festivals; the schedule is on the movie’s website. But it recently became available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play and YouTube (rental prices start at $2.99).
Who was Garland Jeffreys?
Born in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, the son of mixed race parents – Jeffreys is part Black, part Puerto Rican and part white – he met Reed at Syracuse University and began performing in the late 1960s.
His 1973 self-titled debut, which included the song “Wild in the Streets,” and the 1976 album “Ghost Writer” were both critically acclaimed. “In the late 1970s, many of music’s top tastemakers felt sure Garland Jeffreys would become the next big thing,” noted Rolling Stone story in a June 5, 2025 on the documentary. Five decades ago, the magazine named Jeffreys “the most promising artist ” of 1977.
But Jeffreys’ music, a mélange of rock, R&B, reggae, soul, folk, dance music and even doo-wop, made him a tough fit for record labels looking for artists easy to categorize. He considered himself the “king of in between” and went on to use that as a title for a 2011 album.
His 1981 highly acclaimed “Escape Artist” album yielded the single “96 Tears,” a cover of the 1966 song by ? and the Mysterians, which earned Jeffreys a top 100 hit in the U.S. Another song on the album, “R.O.C.K.,” also earned airplay.
Jeffreys continued to put out albums, with 2017’s “14 Steps To Harlem,” his most recent release. While promoting the album at the South By Southwest Festival that year, he told USA TODAY, “You are looking at a guy who is eternally grateful. I’ve been blessed. I could cry over it.”
Why is Garland Jeffreys important? Here’s what Springsteen said
Despite those early career accolades, Jeffreys never broke through to the mainstream – an artist ahead of his time – instead becoming a revered underground legend.
But his music is still relevant today and the documentary can elevate his legacy. With his songs about race and social issues, Jeffreys told USA TODAY he hoped to help “to facilitate a change. … I think I have done some good work. People have told me how grateful they are, white people and black people.”
Jeffrey’s album “Don’t Call Me Buckwheat,” released in 1992, “could’ve come out 30 minutes ago,” Springsteen says in the film. There’s also footage of the two performing together at Christmas concerts fundraisers for Asbury Park, New Jersey. “I don’t know anybody who was writing about race as directly as Garland was in the early ’90s.”
Literally a labor of love, the documentary is directed by Jeffreys’ wife Claire. (Full disclosure: this reporter made a minor crowdfunding donation to the film after interviewing Jeffreys.)
Among its co-executive producers: filmmaker Samuel Pollard (‘4 Little Girls’ and ‘When the Levee Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts’), Steven Van Zandt and wife Maureen, and the Jeffreys’ daughter Savannah, who also appears in the film.
During filming, Jeffreys’ health declined; he’s in the late stages of Alzheimer’s Disease at his Manhattan home. “It’s almost as if his decline has kept pace with the completion of the film, and now that it’s streaming, he doesn’t have any grasp of how well it’s being received,” Claire Jeffreys told USA TODAY.
Response to the film has been “fantastic, with lots of fans streaming it, and taking the time to communicate their appreciation and how much they enjoyed it,” she said.
As Springsteen is seen saying, “a powerful story well told does not go away so easily or so quickly. It remains even if it’s in the shadows. … People find that kind of work and are drawn to it.”
Mike Snider is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can follow him on Threads, Bluesky, X and email him at mikegsnider & @mikegsnider.bsky.social & @mikesnider & [email protected]
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