The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (soundtrack)

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The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (soundtrack).jpg
Soundtrack album by
Carter Burwell
ReleasedNovember 9, 2018
Studio
Genre
Length42:55
Label Milan
Producer Carter Burwell
Chris Bacon chronology
Goodbye Christopher Robin
(2017)		The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
(2018)		 Missing Link
(2019)

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2018 film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs directed by the Coen brothers. The film score is composed by Carter Burwell, a norm collaborator the duo and featured songs and musical score. The album released through Milan Records on November 9, 2018.

Contents

Development

"Sometimes the music plays the hopes and dreams, and sometimes it plays the bleakness of the situation [...] Each [story] is very different, but music would be the thing that would tie them all together."

— Carter Burwell [1]

In October 2017, it was reported that Carter Burwell, a frequent collaborator of the Coen brothers, would score The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. [2] As the film consisted of six different anthologies, Burwell treated them as different films, with respect to the tone and story, but "the big question was, to what extent do we try to weave a thread through it that gives it some unity." [3] He recalled that Joel told the single thread of the film being a non-accidental death. Burwell could not find a musical solution that would work for all of them and needed an array of strong emotional colors to work with. [1] [4]

As a result, Burwell decided to utilize the Cowboy song "Streets of Laredo" and use guitars, harmonica and tack piano throughout the score. [5] However, Burwell needed "a big, traditional Western sound" for four of the six segments, that needed a "Dimitri Tiomkin sense of scale" for the segment All Gold Canyon and The Gal Who Got Rattled. [5] He further researched old cowboy songs, recorded in the early 20th century for the Library of Congress, which were "generally lonely and sad songs" but refrained from writing new music inspired by them, and focused on the "folkier aspects of the orchestra" without relying too far on the classical Western territory. [5]

The score was recorded with an orchestra at the Abbey Road Studios in London and Sear Sound in New York City and mixed and mastered at Burwell's The Body, New York City. He added "In this case, Netflix as a distributor is not a signatory to any of the union agreements here. So they wanted to go to London so they wouldn’t be involved in that. I mention that because more and more films are being made by companies that aren’t signatories. It’s an issue." [3]

Release

In October 2018, it was announced that Milan Records would distribute the album, and the track list was unveiled the following month which featured songs performed by Brendan Gleeson and Tim Blake Nelson. [6] [7] A musical piece from the album, "Seeking Alice" was released on October 26, 2018, [8] while "Canyon Awake" released through IndieWire on November 7. [9] The soundtrack was released digitally on November 9, followed by a physical release via CDs on November 30 and a vinyl LP unveiled later on December 21. [10]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Carter Burwell, except where noted.

No.TitleArtist(s)Length
1."The Book" 1:48
2."Cool Water" (written by Bob Nolan; produced by T Bone Burnett) Tim Blake Nelson 1:43
3."Carefree Drifter" (written by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch; produced by David Rawlings)
  • David Rawlings
  • Gillian Welch
0:49
4."Randall Collins" (written by Norman Blake) 1:18
5."Near Algodones" 1:56
6."The Wingless Thrush" 2:30
7."Our Revels" 2:20
8."When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" (written by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch; produced by David Rawlings)
2:34
9."Canyon Awake" 1:54
10."How Deep" 2:11
11."Hello, Mr. Pocket!" 2:17
12."Your Share" 1:11
13."Little Joe the Wrangler (Surly Joe)" (written by Frank Loesser and Friedrich Hollaender; additional lyrics by the Coen brothers; produced by T Bone Burnett)Tim Blake Nelson1:29
14."Goodbye Canyon" 1:28
15."Unmarked Grave" 1:27
16."Wagon Train" 1:02
17."Certainty" 1:42
18."The Oregon Trail" 1:18
19."Seeking Alice" 2:18
20."The Gal Who Got Rattled" 1:28
21."The Unfortunate Lad" Brendan Gleeson 1:44
22."The Mortal Remains" 2:41
23."The End of Buster Scruggs" 3:47
Total length:42:55

Reception

David Edelstein of Vulture wrote "Carter Burwell's score is perhaps his most achingly beautiful." [11] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian and Glenn Kenny of RogerEbert.com called the score as "richly plausible" and "gorgeous". [12] [13] Will Hodgkinson of The Times wrote "Carter Burwell's soundtrack for [The Ballad of Buster Scruggs] proves evocative enough to stand up on its own." [14] Tim Grierson of Screen International wrote "composer Carter Burwell delivers another of his superb Coen scores — actually, several of them, as his music moves from plaintive to menacing, depending on the story." [15] Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter wrote "Carter Burwell's wonderfully resourceful score is abetted by no end of Western tunes that have been neatly worked into the flow of events." [16]

Accolades

AwardDate of ceremonyCategoryRecipient(s)ResultRef(s)
Hollywood Music in Media Awards November 14, 2018 Best Original Score – Feature Film Carter Burwell Nominated [17]
[18]
Golden Reel Awards February 18, 2019 Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Feature Underscore Todd Kasaw (music editor)Nominated [19]
Academy Awards February 24, 2019 Best Original Song "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch Nominated [20]
[21]
St. Louis Film Critics Association Awards December 16, 2018 Best Music Score Carter Burwell Nominated [22]
[23]
World Soundtrack Awards October 18, 2019 Best Original Song Written Directly for a Film "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch Nominated [24]

Release history

RegionDateFormat(s)LabelRef.
VariousNovember 9, 2018 Columbia [7]
[10]
November 30, 2018 CD
December 21, 2018 Vinyl

References

  1. 1 2 Grobar, Matt (11 December 2018). "Composer Carter Burwell Captures Hopes, Dreams & Bleakness Of Old West For 'The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs' — Exclusive Video". Deadline Hollywood . Archived from the original on 15 December 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  2. ↑ "Carter Burwell to Score Netflix's 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs'". Film Music Reporter. 11 October 2017. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  3. 1 2 "Composer Carter Burwell Is the Latest Guest on The Hollywood Reporter's 'Behind the Screen' Podcast Series". The Hollywood Reporter . 16 November 2018. Archived from the original on 1 June 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  4. ↑ Finegold, Sarah (6 December 2018). "The Ballad of Carter Burwell". American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Archived from the original on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 Burlingame, Jon (29 November 2018). "Carter Burwell Goes West for 'Buster Scruggs' Score". Variety . Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  6. ↑ "Milan Records to Release 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs' Soundtrack". Film Music Reporter. 1 October 2018. Archived from the original on 2 October 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  7. 1 2 Becerra, Raul (27 October 2018). "'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs' Soundtrack Details". Film Music Reporter. Archived from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  8. ↑ Arcand, Rob (26 October 2018). "Coen Brothers Announce The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Soundtrack". Spin . Archived from the original on 30 January 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  9. ↑ Erbland, Kate (7 November 2018). "'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs' Soundtrack: Carter Burwell Travels West for Coen Brothers' Anthology Film — Listen". IndieWire . Archived from the original on 15 June 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  10. 1 2 Nolfi, Joey (15 November 2018). "Exclusive: Listen to Carter Burwelll's soundtrack for the Coen brothers' 'Ballad of Buster Scruggs'". Entertainment Weekly . Archived from the original on 22 February 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  11. ↑ Edelstein, David (9 November 2018). "In The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, the Coens Take Old Westerns to a New Frontier". Vulture . Archived from the original on 30 May 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  12. ↑ Bradshaw, Peter (31 August 2018). "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs review – the Coens' brutal salute to the western". The Guardian . ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on 5 September 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  13. ↑ Kenny, Glenn (9 November 2018). "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs movie review (2018)". RogerEbert.com . Archived from the original on 16 September 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  14. ↑ Hodgkinson, Will (14 December 2018). "Carter Burwell: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs review". The Times . Archived from the original on 8 April 2025. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  15. ↑ Grierson, Tim (31 August 2018). "'The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs': Venice Review". Screen International . Archived from the original on 1 September 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  16. ↑ McCarthy, Todd (31 August 2018). "'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs': Film Review | Venice 2018". The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from the original on 19 December 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  17. ↑ Xu, Linda (17 October 2018). "'A Star Is Born,' 'Black Panther' Lead Hollywood Music in Media Awards Nominees". The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  18. ↑ Yang, Rachel (16 October 2018). "'Black Panther,' 'A Star Is Born' Lead 2018 Hollywood Music in Media Awards Nominees". Variety . Archived from the original on 17 October 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
  19. ↑ Pedersen, Erik (18 January 2019). "Motion Picture Sound Editors Reveal 2019 Golden Reel Nominations". Deadline Hollywood . Archived from the original on 18 January 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
  20. ↑ Pulver, Andrew; Shoard, Catherine (22 January 2019). "Oscars 2019: Roma and The Favourite vie for glory with 10 nominations each". The Guardian . Archived from the original on 22 January 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  21. ↑ "The 91st Academy Awards (2019) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 25 February 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  22. ↑ "Annual StLFCA Awards". St. Louis Film Critics Association . Archived from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  23. ↑ "2018 StLFCA Annual Award Winners". St. Louis Film Critics Association . Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  24. ↑ Bell, BreAnna (12 August 2019). "Lady Gaga, Post Malone Among 2019 World Soundtrack Awards Nominees". Variety . Archived from the original on 12 February 2024. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
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