Soundtracks Reviews

Soundtrack Review: Jesse Harris - ‘The Hottest State’

By Jeff Swindoll Aug 9, 2007, 19:42 GMT

The soundtrack for the film, The Hottest State isn’t just another compilation of songs pulled out of obscurity and thrown together for a movie companion piece. No way. If anything, this album and it is indeed, an album could also be categorized as a tribute record. The album features sixteen songs, plus two score passages, all recorded exclusively for the film by some of the finest names in music today, ...more

The Hottest State is a film from Ethan Hawke that is based on his 1997 novel of the same name.  It tells the tale of an actor named William (Mark Webber) who falls madly in love with singer/songwriter Sara (Catalina Sandino Moreno).  He pursues her throughout the film and ends up in the Hottest State (Texas). 

Musician/songwriter Jesse Harris writes all the songs on the soundtrack and some old pros as well as young Turks preform them.  The pros include Willie Nelson (“Always Seem to Get Things Wrong”), Emmylou Harris (“The Speed of Sound”).  The younger generation of singers is represented by Feist (“Somewhere Down the Road”), Bright Eyes (“Big Old House”), Norah Jones (“World of Trouble”) and Harris provides some performances as well (“It Will Stay with Us,” “One Day the Dam will Break,” and “Dear Dorothy.”) amongst others. 

A singer called Rocha provides the singing that Moreno lip-synchs to in her role.  The songs are very good (Harris is a Grammy winning songwriter) and the performers a diverse lot.  It would make a good purchase if you were a fan of Harris, the film, or any of the performers. 

‘The Hottest State’ is now available at Amazon. Visit the soundtrack database for more information.