The hairstyle that consists of long ropes of dense, matted hair dates back thousands of years. In the 1950s it was given the name "dreadlocks" after members of the Rastafari movement in Jamaica adopted the style.

A recent documentary that's available on DVD called "Dreadheads: Portrait of a Subculture" takes a look at white men and women who have turned to the matted look as part of a subculture that follows jam bands such as Phish and The String Cheese Incident across the country.

Documentary filmmaker Steve Hurlburt, 53, first noticed the dreadheads while attending Grateful Dead shows and from the summer of 2002 to the summer 2004 filmed people as they talked about their choice of hairstyle and lifestyle.

The 77-minute film is sometimes whimsical. Some of the dreadheads talk about how they store energy in their hair and one bespectacled young man calls his dreadlocks "antennacles" and a power source.

Prof. Rebecca Adams, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, said the dreadheads are carrying out a uniquely American tradition along the lines of Frederick Jackson Turner's "frontier thesis."

"Being on the road and following bands around is one of the last frontiers," Adams said in the documentary. "They are migrating from place to place just the way our forefathers did. ... The average jam band fan has probably been to more states in the union than the most conservative, flag-waving Republican."

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DREADHEADS' CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIETY

When asked what dreadheads contribute to society, Hurlburt gave a long, thoughtful pause before responding.

"I think their main contribution is an expression through their lives of the American value of freedom," he said. "They value experience, they value new things and I think they value it in a little bit of a selfish way. But, I think that ultimately spreads out to other people who open up to a freer way of viewing things, a less structured way, maybe a more relaxed way of living life."

He cited one dreadhead in the documentary who built the live-in van he drives to shows.

"His contribution might be to loosen people up, to show that you can live the great American dream, but live it in a different way," Hurlburt said.

LITTLE ASHLEY TREE

The documentary shows the party scene at concert parking lots where people are drunk, stoned and high on hallucinogenic drugs. It also shows a bit of the darker side of the scene, particularly the commentary by a dark-haired waif who calls herself "Little Ashley Tree."

She is first shown in the film with dreads and clutching colorful, handmade psychedelic drawings. One is a drawing of a star machine giving births to stars.

Later, she has cut off the dreads and talks about her depression after the death of her soul mate "Shorty" who died while following Phish in what she described as an apparent drug overdose on the day before his 18th birthday.

"She comes to this dreadie jam band thing to find some sort of family or connectedness that perhaps she didn't have at home," Hurlburt said. "You can find good aspects out there and you can find bad aspects. There are people who cheat, steal and rip them off. Unless you're pretty grounded, it's a tough way to live."

LAST THING

Hurlburt had long, straight hair while he was working on the documentary, but stopped brushing it about two years ago.

"It's been interesting to say the least," he said. "I haven't really gotten hassled about it, a weird look now and then. My mother would like me to cut my hair."

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Paul Chavez is an asap reporter in Los Angeles.

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