The first thing I like about Immediate Family is the same thing I like about old people. And that thing is finding out that they worked hard to get to where they are. The documentary shares its title with a band comprising of session players who started working in the 1970s, all of them coming from different economic backgrounds. One of these members is Russel Kunkel, who comes from a working class family, his mother pushing him to do a gas station job before becoming a musician. Kunkel and his fellow session players are the second coming of the Wrecking Crew.

The Wrecking Crew, also the subject of director Denny Tedesco’s earlier documentary, is a loose collective of session musicians whose era overlapped with The Immediate Family. The documentary doesn’t totally explore the differences between the two collectives. But this is, mostly, a good decision to make The Immediate Family stand out as its own beast. Regardless of the collectives’ differences, The Immediate Family spent half of their time in LA studios and the other half touring with singers they worked with.

Tedesco and his crew don’t reinvent the wheel here, but they don’t really have to. A lot of Immediate Family has its obligatory interview segments. Here, they have guitarist and vocalist Danny Kortchmar discuss what musicians like James Taylor were like. The crew, nonetheless, hit the right tones here. They approach these subjects without seeming too much like they’re fanboying about these musicians or the bigger stars – they’re in the poster – they worked with. Conversely, the crew also interviews these bigger stars who speak gushingly about these session players. The film features archive footage and interviews with Linda Ronstadt and other artists that the children really need to know about.

Rockumentaries have to deliver specific beats and for the most part, this isn’t any different. At one point, as it should, this documentary plays clips of pieces of music that these musicians worked on. For example, Waddy Wachtel is responsible for that simple yet iconic riff in Stevie Nicks’ song “The Edge of Seventeen”. Yes, the same riff that Beyonce sampled in “Bootylicious” during the Destiny’s Child days. Immediate Family feels like nostalgia bait, but it’s light enough that music heads can take a bite of it.

I write that that riff in “Edge” is simple even if Wachtel explains how hard it is to perform. Documentaries like Immediate Family remind viewers like us that it takes a lot of work to create something that people half-listen to in grocery stores. These musicians are still working today. Parts of the documentary show these musicians in the studio replaying their contributions to songs most consider as classics. We can feel how great this music, both in pieces and as a whole, especially in this documentary.

Watch Immediate Family in select Canadian theatres.