Walk the Line [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

Overview

For Walk the Line, his biopic of country legend Johnny Cash, director James Mangold took a different tactic than director Taylor Hackford did with his Ray Charles bio, Ray. Where Hackford used Charles' classic original recordings for Atlantic as the heart of the film, Mangold decided to use new recordings for his movie, hiring producer T-Bone Burnett, the mastermind behind the surprise soundtrack success of the Coen Brothers' old-timey O Brother, Where Art Thou?, to steer his cast through re-creations of the classic Sun sound. Burnett skillfully conjures that lean, muscular, mysterious sound for his Walk the Line work, keeping all the performances direct and unadorned -- "Ring of Fire" even has its mariachi horns stripped from it -- and hiring a bunch of pros, including Sun vet Jack Clement, as the backing band. All this means that on a pure sonic level, Walk the Line is quite successful, but as a soundtrack album, it's still a bit of a disconcerting listen because it is, after all, actors singing as part of their performance. Listening to Joaquin Phoenix sing Johnny Cash's words and Reese Witherspoon sing as June Carter, it's hard not to shake the feeling that their on-record performances are part of a greater scheme that is impossible to discern without the film as a whole. That said, both Phoenix and Witherspoon give serious, sincere performances that are quite effective, particularly when they're supported by Burnette's crackerjack production. Strangely enough, it's the cameos from the other musicians featured in the film that ring a discordant note: Tyler Hilton's Elvis Presley and, especially, Waylon Malloy Payne's cartoonish Jerry Lee Lewis are too close to caricatures to be effective, while Shooter Jennings' "I'm a Long Way from Home" and Johnathan Rice's "You're My Baby" (which regrettably drops the "little wooly booger" from Cash's original tune) are just a shade too modern in their approach to fit comfortably among the earnest, faithful re-creations that surround them. So, Walk the Line winds up being a curious yet enjoyable listen. By no means does this replace the Cash or Carter originals, but it's a good tribute to both musicians, while providing some fascinating insight to the art and craft of Phoenix and Witherspoon as actors. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	11/15/2005
Label:	Concord
UPC:	0887254006626

Tracks

1. Get Rhythm  - Joaquin Phoenix
2. I Walk the Line  - Joaquin Phoenix
3. Wildwood Flower  - Reese Witherspoon
4. Lewis Boogie  - Waylon Malloy Payne
5. Ring of Fire  - Joaquin Phoenix
6. You're My Baby  - Joaquin Phoenix
7. Cry Cry Cry  - Joaquin Phoenix
8. Folsom Prison Blues  - Joaquin Phoenix
9. That's All Right  - Tyler Hilton
10. Juke Box Blues  - Reese Witherspoon
11. It Ain't Me Babe  - Joaquin Phoenix  - Reese Witherspoon
12. Home of the Blues  - Joaquin Phoenix
13. Milk Cow Blues  - Tyler Hilton
14. I'm a Long Way From Home  - Shooter Jennings
15. Cocaine Blues  - Joaquin Phoenix
16. Jackson  - Joaquin Phoenix  - Reese Witherspoon

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Tyler Hilton   Primary Artist,Guitar (Acoustic)
Waylon Payne   Primary Artist
Reese Witherspoon   Primary Artist
Joaquin Phoenix   Primary Artist
Waylon Malloy Payne   Primary Artist
Shooter Jennings   Primary Artist,Guitar (Acoustic)
Johnathan Rice   Primary Artist
David Kemper   Drums
Jamie Hartford   Guitar (Electric)
T-Bone Burnett   Guitar,Guitar (Electric)
Bill Maxwell   Drums
Stuart Duncan   Fiddle
John Alderson   Autoharp
Peter Case   Guitar,Harmonica,Guitar (Acoustic)
Lloyd Green   Pedal Steel
Norman Blake   Guitar,Guitar (Acoustic)
Tom Canning   Piano
Marc Ribot   Guitar (Electric)
Armando Compean   String Bass
Tony Gilkyson   Guitar (Electric)
Dennis Crouch   String Bass,Bass (Acoustic)
Jack Clement   Guitar,Guitar (Acoustic)
Barry Bales   Bass (Acoustic)

Technical Credits

Gregg Wattenberg   Production Supervisor,A&R,Executive
Gavin Lurssen   Mastering
David Wild   Liner Notes
Ernest Tubb   Composer
T-Bone Burnett   Producer,Executive Producer
T.J. "Red" Arnall   Composer
Steve Genewick   Assistant Engineer
Billy Edd Wheeler   Composer
Johnny Cash   Composer
June Carter Cash   Composer
Emile Kelman   Assistant Engineer
Hank Cochran   Composer
Jason Wormer   Digital Editing,Assistant Engineer
Ivy Skoff   Production Coordination
Michael Knobloch   Music Supervisor
Suzanne Tenner   Photography
Bethany Pawluk   Package Design
Darren Majewski   A&R
Andrea Ciraldo   Product Manager
Jonathan Belzley   Mastering Assistant
Lisa Surber   Production Assistant
Cathy Konrad   Executive Soundtrack Producer
Mark Seliger   Photography
Paul Ackling   Technical Support
Sydney Negley   Production Assistant
James Mangold   Executive Soundtrack Producer
Ed Vetri   Executive
Diana Meltzer   A&R
Geoff Bywater   Music Supervisor
Lee McAlpin   Composer
Ken Regan   Photography
Curtis Laur   Technical Support
Kristy Swailes   Executive
Glenn Douglas Tubb   Composer
June Carter   Composer
Maybelle Carter   Composer
Robert Kraft   Executive
Lillie McAlpine   Composer
Jimmy Hoyson   Assistant Engineer
Jerry Lee Lewis   Composer
Jerry Leiber   Composer
Mother Maybelle Carter   Composer
Merle Kilgore   Composer
Mike Piersante   Mixing,Engineer
A.P. Carter   Composer
Gillian Morris   Executive
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup   Composer
Helen Carter   Composer
Chad Carlson   Assistant Engineer
Steven Lerner   Executive
Bob Dylan   Composer
Kokomo Arnold   Composer