Al Pacino film is based on Bristol musician

“Inspired by a true story,” says the poster for Al Pacino’s new film, Danny Collins. “40 years ago, an undelivered letter from John Lennon could have changed his life forever. He got it today.”

Pacino plays the eponymous perma-tanned, aging rock musician – a mixture of Barry Manilow and Rod Stewart, apparently – who’s slogging round the nostalgia circuit with no great enthusiasm. Collins’ life changes when his manager (Christopher Plummer) hands him an undelivered letter of support from John Lennon, which was written in 1971. The letter is pretty much the only factual element of the film, which confesses in a playful caption that it is, “Kind of based on a true story a little bit.”

The letter was indeed written by John Lennon in 1971. And it was lost until 2005. But the intended recipient wasn’t an American rocker but a folk singer-songwriter from Bristol. An award-winning stalwart of the local folk scene, who was often to be seen performing with the late Maggie Boyle, 65-year-old Steve Tilston has also recorded with Andy Sheppard, had songs covered by the likes of Fairport Convention, and appeared on Later with Jools Holland. But back in 1971, as a rising 21-year-old musician, he gave an interview to the now-defunct Zigzag magazine in which he fretted about the prospect of wealth and fame corrupting his songwriting. This caught the eye of John Lennon, who was just about to record Imagine and found himself moved to write to Tilston, care of Zigzag.

“Being rich doesn’t change your experiences in the way you think,” counselled the former Beatle. “The only difference, basically, is that you don’t have you worry about money – food – roof etc. But all other experiences – emotions – relationships – are the same as anybodies. I know, I have been rich and poor and so has Yoko, (rich – poor – rich). So, whadya think of that. Love John and Yoko.”

The first that Tilston knew of the letter was when an American collector wrote to him in 2005 asking him to authenticate it. When its existence was made public five years later, Tilston told the Daily Telegraph: “I feel it was a rather brotherly letter really. Not antagonistic, just offering words of advice. If I had received it all those years ago my young self would definitely have rung him. I felt rather angry to start with to think that someone had just sold the letter rather than passing it on to me but you have to let these things go.”

He added that vast wealth had not proved to be a major problem. “I said something about how becoming rich beyond the dreams of avarice might have a detrimental affect on my songwriting. Sadly I was never really able to test this theory out, but Lennon, who clearly had, put me right.”

Tilston (pictured above) continues to tour and record, and will next be in town at St. George’s as part of the Bristol Folk Festival on May 2. Tickets are available here. He also seems likely to benefit from a long-overdue career boost when Danny Collins is released in the UK on Friday, May 29. Speaking to the New York Times last month, he seemed slighly bemused by all the attention:  “I’ve managed to earn my living as a musician for 40-odd years, and it’s been feast and famine. But really, I’ve lived a charmed life. I wouldn’t change it at all…The idea of celebrity turns me right off. I just like to do what I do.”