C.M. Talkington is a cult filmmaker-turned-singer/songwriter, perhaps best known for writing and directing the cult classic western psychedelic road opera Love & A .45 starring Renée Zellweger (in her first leading role). Music has always been one of the most important, and until 2020, private parts of his life, with his latest single, ‘Space Invaders’, out now! It’s a haunting and gritty meditation accompanied by a music video assembled from documentary footage shot over the past SIX years by the artist during his recovery from colon cancer. I asked Talkington ten questions to peer behind the scenes at his creative process.
THE ARGUS FAR FIVE
How would you describe the sound of CM Talkington?
Western Psychedelic Soul.
What are your biggest non-music influences?
Nature & The Source that created it.
If you had to cover any song and put a CM Talkington spin on it, which would you choose?
‘Ring Of Fire’.
What is your earliest memory of music?
Playing & singing folk songs with my stepfather, Lee McAlester, in East Texas when I was 10 years old. Profoundly shaped me.
What does the rest of 2026 have in store for CM Talkington?
It’s the Year of the Fire Horse. I’m a Fire Horse. This is my year. So I’ll mos def be making more new music. Probably a new record’s worth. Cisco & I are already working on a new song called ‘Guardians’. It’s where the hummingbird takes us when it flies away at the end of the ‘Space Invaders’ video. We take the story further into The Garden. I’m also currently editing a doc feature named ‘Hollywood Anarchist’, I’ve been making with a young director, Jake Bayless, for the past 6 years. He was tragically killed in a car accident last year, driving to a film location. It was devastating. We had become extremely close. So now I’m finishing the film for Jake. He’s actually with me in Spirit every step of the way. I’m hoping to have the rough cut ready in 9 months.
THE C.M. TALKINGTON FIVE
You’ve said that music has always been a part of your life. What spurred you to release your own songs?
My first two records were released by Birs Recordings, who I have an excellent relationship with, but I decided I wanted to start releasing singles instead of whole albums and it seemed like the most efficient way was to start releasing them myself. ‘Space Invaders’ is my first single release on Human Magic Recordings, the name of my record label.
Songwriting and filmmaking are both means of telling a story. How has working in both disciplines helped your creativity in either?
Film is music for me. Music is film. Sound + Vision – as Bowie articulated it so beautifully. I’ve been making things in both mediums for a lifetime. As above, so below. They have the same correspondence for me. One hand drawing another. Human Magic.
Your most popular track is ’Two Steps’, featuring two-time Oscar winner and star of Love and a .45, Renée Zellweger. How was it to collaborate with such a creative force at different points in her career?
Like singin’ harmony with a Valkyrie Angel in celluloid heaven.
How does the natural world inspire your art?
The Sacred Garden & The Source that created it are everything for me. Within & without.
Your latest track is ’Space Invaders’, a psychedelic story of a garden being invaded, protected by its guardians – various insects. How did you come up with this concept?
I channeled it out of the aether with the help of Mother Earth, Father Sun & all my guardian friends.
There’s something wonderful happening right now. An ancient powerful energy is rising from within to protect our Garden from ‘Space Invaders’ intent on destroying it.
This song is a clarion call to all humans willing to stand with The Guardians & defend ‘The Sacred Garden’ within us all. We share it. The Source of All Creation. We have to remember what we’ve forgotten, before we lose it forever.
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Argus Far 
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