Dan Bern writes songs that seem to play out as miniature movies; tunes that tell character-based stories and which can make you laugh, cry or otherwise feel some kind of emotion. It's no wonder then that Bern wrote many of the songs for the movie 'Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.' The actual music on the soundtrack to the biopic spoof was performed by John C. Reilly in the character of Dewey Cox, but Bern (and songwriting partner Mike Viola) had the opportunity to play the songs for the movie industry this past weekend at Sundance.

Bern tells Spinner that ever since sound came into motion pictures, there has been a natural marriage between music and film. "With 'Walk Hard,' it was even more of a thing because the main character was in fact a songwriter," says Bern. "The music that we wrote for it was like a character in itself."

As for his first Sundance experience, Bern wasted no time in taking advantage of his stay, seeing six films in just a couple of days. "If you're looking for movie star hob-nobbing stories, I don't really have them," he says. "But I've been fortunate to see some really amazing films."