Sling Blade

Sling Blade was a movie I watched sometime in high school. I rented it and watched it on my laptop at the tennis courts where I worked. The job didn’t really call for much attention so movies were a good way to pass a six-hour shift. Either that or go fucking crazy.
I remember the movie being pretty good. Dwight Yoakum was in it and he’s always fun to watch. Billy Bob Thorton wrote, directed and starred in it and that was pretty impressive. But what really struck me about the Sling Blade was its’ music. As soon as my shift ended, I went to Tower and bought the soundtrack which was scored and performed by Daniel Lanois. Lanois is mainly recognized as a producer. He’s helmed albums by Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, U2 and Bob Dylan but he’s also released a few of his own albums as well and the one’s I’ve heard are all pretty cool. His signature production style is a swampy, murky sound. Hard to describe but the type of thing you know when you hear it, just like obscenity. Harris’ Wrecking Ball and Nelson’s Teatro are prime examples of his production style as is Dylan’s Time Out of Mind and Oh Mercy.
The Sling Blade soundtrack features eight compositions that make up the score. For added value it features Lanois’ excellent song, The Maker, a track that lots of people have covered to great success including Dave Matthews, Harris and Jerry Garcia who with the Jerry Garcia Band does my favorite version of the tune.
Sling Blade also contains a Booker T & The M.G.’s song plus tracks by Local H (GBV cover!), Russell Wilson and Mark Howard, Tim Gibbons and Bambi Lee Savage. Soundtracks that mainly feature one artist but include additional music by other artists to round-out the disc and/or film is something I have never really understood. Examples of this are Magnolia that is basically an Aimee Mann album filled out with a few Supertramp songs and Good Will Hunting, which is half an Elliott Smith album and the other half made up of other artists. Don’t get me wrong the Good Will Hunting soundtrack has lots of good music, including The Waterboys and a cover of an awesome Jackson Browne tune (Somebody’s Baby), but why not just release an Elliott Smith record? I know, I know, there are lots of reasons why not to. He didn’t write enough songs, a soundtrack wasn’t where he wanted his career going, the director wanted to use other artists, etc, etc. It’s just a little stupid issue I have and I think I can or will get over it. Though not tonight.
Closing this up and getting back to Sling Blade, the score is pure Lanois. It is murky, swampy, melodic and compelling. The first posted track is from the opening credits and the next is Lanois and Harris on the traditional Shenandoah. Enjoy.


Asylum - Daniel Lanois - Sling Blade

Shenandoah - Daniel Lanois feat. Emmylou Harris - Sling Blade