The soundtrack to the new movie The Hottest State is truly an album–and an ambitious one, to boot. The film was adapted for the screen by director Ethan Hawke, from a novel he also wrote. Hawke enjoined New York singer-songwriter Jesse Harris to helm the soundtrack project. All of the songs on the album were penned by Harris, which gives them (and the film) a certain fluidity, but rather than performing them on his own, he enlisted a terrific cast of artists to record them. Here’s the track listing:
Rocha “Ya No Te Veria Mas (Never See You)”
Willie Nelson “Always Seem to Get Things Wrong”
Feist “Somewhere Down the Road”
Bright Eyes “Big Old House”
Emmylou Harris “The Speed of Sound”
Jesse Harris “It Will Stay With Us”
The Black Keys “If You Ever Slip”
M. Ward “Crooked Lines”
Norah Jones “World of Trouble”
Brad Mehldau “Never See You”
Cat Power “It’s Alright to Fail”
Jesse Harris “One Day the Dam Will Break”
Tony Scherr “You, the Queen”
[Score] “Morning in a Strange City (Cafe)”
Rocha “No More”
Jesse Harris “Dear Dorothy”
Rocha “Never See You”
[Score] “There Are No Second Chances”
Jesse Harris
“Jesse and I are indebted to all the artists on this album for making this absolutely unique way of scoring a film possible. Each track has its own story of how it came to be. The day I will remember the most is the first. Catalina Sandino Moreno (our “Sarah”), Jesse, Rocha (the voice of Sarah), and I were working in a studio on 11th Avenue trying to discover what we wanted and needed from Sarah’s music. Then Norah Jones came in; then Willie Nelson’s guitar arrived; then Norah played; then Willie himself arrived. I swallowed my gum. Then Willie played. If one is a crazy music fan like me, it was a great day. I remember Norah saying to Jesse that most artists had to be dead to have so many great covers of their songs on one album. I think this record speaks very clearly to the level of songwriting Jesse is capable of and the movie, and I will forever be in debt to his contribution.”
The film opens Friday August 24 in New York and L.A. and throughout September in the rest of the U.S.
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