Cold Mountain - The Sountrack of the year is coming

Christmas Day sees the theater release of a movie I have been looking forward to for some time. Cold Mountain is based on a book that became a best seller for Charles Frazier.

It tells the story of a wounded civil war soldier who leaves the hospital and the war behind to walk across the Appalachians to his home on Cold Mountain at the far western corner of North Carolina. It is a beautifully written odyssey novel and is set in one of my favorite places on the planet. The movie stars Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Rene Zellweger and also features Brendan Gleason who is one of our best Irish exports ever. By all accounts the movie is a faithful depiction of the novel.

Even more eagerly anticipated than the movie is the soundtrack album. There has been a buzz about this project for some time since it was revealed that T Bone Burnett is at the helm. The man who, with the help of some amazing musicians brought bluegrass and old time music back to the masses with O Brother where Art Thou has put together another soundtrack that almost certainly be on the Grammy and Oscar nomination lists.

There are songs on here from Jack White of The White Stripes. Tim O'Brien features on the album as do Alison Krauss and Stuart Duncan hinting at a similar feel to the O Brother project. Songs include Wayfaring Stranger and Sitting on top of the World and are played and sung by some of the great singers and bands in music today.

I am very pleased to see the wonderful Reeltime Travelers have a song on the soundtrack. A great choice as this band are an example of how old time music can be brought to a much wider audience. Other people appearing on the movie soundtrack are Norah Jones and old favorite James Taylor.

The soundtrack hits the stores on December 16 th and if you buy it at Amazon don't forget to support JigTime by ordering from here.

Also look out for a television special featuring the bands and music from the movie recorded live in concert in New York . Details on that as soon as we have them.

See you at the Cinema on Christmas Day.