Views from Western Australia

August 15, 2007

Black Snake Moan – Soundtrack

Filed under: Music Reviews

 Various Artists

Movie soundtracks generally sound like washing machine music, but occasionally a killer album spins out of the mix with the music defining the movie; the soundtrack from ‘Black Snake Moan’ gives the movie its pulse and rhythm. 

The album is filled with that raw Northern Mississippi hills blues sound that was popularized by ‘Possum Records’; but it’s not all played by old blues dudes: it has ‘John Doe’ from LA punk band ‘X’, the ‘Black Keys’ and Detroit psychedelic rockers ‘Outrageous Cherry’ contributing.  Samuel L. Jackson performs well as a blues singer and he certainly rocks the juke joint.  His cover of "Stackolee" with the late R.L. Burnside’s backing band is terrific, and his version of Blind Lemon Jefferson’s "Black Snake Moan" is chilling.

Established names include Son House, Bobby Rush, fresh from the Chitlin circuit, acoustic blues-gospel singer Precious Bryant, as well as Jessie Mae Hemphill and R.L. Burnside.  The tracks by Scott Bomar include the Dickinson brothers and Charlie Musselwhite on harp.

The Black Snake Moan soundtrack is a must for blues fans or people looking for something very cool.

Paramount Vantage
Music produced by the Bo-Keys ‘Scott Bomar’

Released 2007

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