The last time that the Coen Brothers teamed up with music producer T-Bone Burnett, the result was the multi-platinum, Grammy-winning soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou? Needless to say, expectations are high for their next collaboration, the Inside Llewyn Davis soundtrack, now available for streaming courtesy of Spotify.
The film tells the story of a fictional folk singer/songwriter, based loosely on Dave Van Ronk, who was a mainstay in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the early 60s and was nicknamed "The Mayor of MacDougal Street." Its accompanying soundtrack features fourteen tracks by the likes of artists such as Marcus Mumford, Justin Timberlake, Bob Dylan and the Punch Brothers, as well as actor Oscar Isaac, who plays the film's title character.
Generally, the album reflects the sound of Greenwich Village's classic folk scene, though its first twelve songs are new recordings produced by Burnett. The last two tracks on the Inside Llewyn Davis soundtrack are a previously unreleased recording of Bob Dylan playing "Farewell," and a song called "Green, Green Rocky Road" performed by Van Ronk himself.
Whether you're into the more traditional folk sound or the new wave of folk-pop popularized by Mumford and company, this soundtrack does an excellent job of synthesizing the two into a very palatable product. Credit Burnett, who continues to make old time-y music commercially viable.
Stream the album in full above. Check out Elton John's The Diving Board, another album recently produced by Burnett, right here on Zumic.
