Country music is the genre of the storyteller. While its most adept practitioners can tell a robust narrative in 3 minutes or less, others use the genre as a jumping-off point for much longer projects: movies. From biopics to films with southern settings, country music has been used in soundtracks countless times throughout the years.
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Today, we’ve compiled five of the best country music soundtracks of all time. We’ve shied away from biopics about real-life musicians and instead stuck to films simply inspired by the country music scene. Revisit these stellar soundtracks, below.
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1. Urban Cowboy
Urban Cowboy has been credited as having revived country music for a new generation. With a soundtrack full of songs from the genre’s biggest artists, it’s not hard to see why. While Bud Davis (John Travolta) attempts to win back the affection of Sissy (Debra Winger), songs from the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Charlie Daniels, Johnny Lee, and Kenny Rogers underscore all the action.
Though the film received some mixed reviews upon its release for commercializing the country lifestyle, you can’t count out the connective string between Urban Cowboy‘s popified country soundtrack and the chart toppers we enjoy today.
Best Moments: “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” (The Charlie Daniels Band), “Darlin'” (Bonnie Raitt), and “Lookin’ For Love” (Johnny Lee).
2. Crazy Heart
Jeff Bridges plays a has-been country artist in “Crazy Heart.” While Bridges makes the movie enticing to watch from his performance alone, director Scott Cooper bolsters the film’s appeal even more by tapping a number of heavyweight songwriters for the soundtrack. Among the credited writers are T-Bone Burnett, Stephen Bruton, Ryan Bingham, John Goodwin, Bob Neuwirth, Sam Hopkins, Gary Nicholson, Townes Van Zandt, Sam Phillips, Greg Brown, Billy Joe Shaver, and Eddy Shaver.
Best Moments: “Hold On You” (Jeff Bridges) and “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way” (Waylon Jennings)
3. Pure Country
George Strait plays a fictional country star named Dusty Chandler in Pure Country. The success of Chandler in the film is made all the more believable with Strait’s talent backing up the plot. Though the film only garnered mild success, the album was a runaway success. One of Strait’s most commercially successful albums, the soundtrack for Pure Country has sold over six million copies and spawned two No. 1 hits on the Billboard Country charts: “Heartland” and “I Cross My Heart.”
“I loved making Pure Country,” Strait once said. “It was a great learning experience for me, seeing another part of the entertainment industry.”
Best Moments: “Heartland” (George Strait), “I Cross My Heart” (George Strait), and “When Did You Stop Loving Me” (George Strait)
4. Lawless
Though rockers Nick Cave and Warren Ellis oversaw the soundtrack for the 2012 film, Lawless, they ensured that the film’s rural settings were well represented. The film follows a family of brothers who run a moonshine operation in Virginia at the height of prohibition. As they try to outrun the law, the brothers amass a reputation for being invincible, making them out to be more myth than man.
In typical experimental Cave fashion, he had the likes of Emmylou Harris and Willie Nelson record bluegrass-inspired versions of more contemporary songs as a way of “stretching time.” Among the soundtrack are countryfied renditions of The Velvet Underground’s “White Light/White Heat” and Townes Van Zandt’s “Snake Song,” as well as Cave/Ellis originals.
Best Moments: “White Light/White Heat” (The Bootleggers feat. Mark Lanegan) and “Fire in the Blood / Snake Song” (Nick Cave & Warren Ellis / Townes Van Zandt)
5. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Few soundtracks help to set a scene better than the one for “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” With T Bone Burnett at the helm, the soundtrack is a perfect snapshot of southern American life during The Great Depression.
From the piercing vocals of Norman Blake to the hypnotizing triad of Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, and Gillian Welch, this album is the sonic equivalent of sepia-toned archive footage of country’s origins, filtered through the lens of more modern artists.
Best Moments: “Didn’t Leave Nobody but the Baby” (Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, and Gillian Welch), “Down to the River to Pray” (Alison Krauss), and “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow” (Soggy Bottom Boys)
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