Termed “a bicentennial ode” by Jones, The Trouble I’ve Seen is a portrait of black rural Georgia, shot in three communities (Woodstock, Jonesboro and Crawfordville) in the hills around Atlanta. Merging oral and visual history, Jones underscores and contextualizes the political and economic realities of African- Americans in the rural South. Recording the everyday life and work of the people, he allows the interplay between image and sound to add emotional resonance. The music — ragtime compositions and a cappella spirituals — provides a counterpoint to the often poignant images and the subjects’ voiceover commentaries.