# Episode 264 | Billy Joel: Telling the Story Behind the Musician (with Jessica Levin)

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Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/documentary-first-1033526/episode-264-billy-joel-telling-the-story-behind-the-musician-with-jessica-levin.md
Podcast: [Documentary First](https://stenobird.com/podcast/documentary-first-1033526)
Published: 2025-11-06T21:40:00+00:00
Episode link: https://tinyurl.com/DocFirstPod
Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/d1d1872c-151a-4b9f-a5b9-185a67f0b0ca.mp3
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Duration seconds: 4168

## Resource

In this episode of Documentary First, Christian sits down with filmmaker Jessica Levin, co-director and producer of the Critics Choice Documentary Awards in the Best Music Documentary-nominated HBO documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes. Jessica shares what it was like to tell the story of Billy Joel—not just as a legendary musician, but as a human being full of depth, contradiction, humor, and heart. Together, they explore the craft of music documentary filmmaking: how to build trust during intimate interviews, how to follow emotional truth rather than timeline, and how music itself can become the spine of a narrative. Jessica opens up about the collaborative process behind shaping the film’s nonlinear structure, as well as the responsibility that comes with telling a story about someone the world already feels like they know. Whether you are a filmmaker, a musician, or someone whose life has ever been held by a song — this conversation is creative, heartfelt, and filled with insights about storytelling, memory, and what it means to truly listen. Links: American Masters: American Masters (TV Series 1985– ) - Reference view - IMDb Billy Joel: And So It Goes: Billy Joel: And So It Goes (TV Mini Series 2025) - Reference view - IMDb Inventing David Geffen: "American Masters" Inventing David Geffen (TV Episode 2012) - Reference view - IMDb Joni Mitchell: A Women of Heart and Mind: "American Masters" Joni Mitchell: A Woman of Heart and Mind (TV Episode 2003) - Reference view - IMDb The Janes: The Janes (2022) - Reference view - IMDb DocuView Déjà Vu The Andy Warhol Diaries, 2022, Limited Series with 6 episodes, watch on Netflix, IMDB Link: The Andy Warhol Diaries (TV Mini Series 2022) - Reference view - IMDb Time Codes 00:00 — Opening Reflections 02:54 — Early Relationships…

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