Various Artists – The Peanut Butter Falcon Soundtrack
Varese Sarabande Recordings – 18 October 2019
When recording a movie soundtrack it’s good to have a core band as talented as Noam Pikelny and Gabe Witcher of Punch Brothers teaming with Jonathan Sadoff of thenewno2 and Zach Dawes who’s played with everyone from Miles Kane and Arctic Monkeys to Sharon Van Etten and Lana Del Rey. Blending an eclectic mix of bluegrass, folk, rock, and spirituals they have created a soundtrack that walks the line between timeless and contemporary.
A modern take on Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, The Peanut Butter Falcon, tells the tale of a small-town criminal on the run who takes to the river only to find he has a young man with Down syndrome as a passenger. But both men are actually on the run and the tale becomes more intriguing with every twist in the river.
The tricky business for these musicians is to create music that moves the story forward yet can stand on its own two feet. On that basis, The Peanut Butter Falcon is nothing short of miraculous. On Tyler Teaches Zach To Swim, over the course of a mere minute and change, Noam Pikelny’s banjo morphs into a chorus of banjoes struggling to keep ahead of the water.
Just when you think you have this band figured out, they throw you a curve. They make gentle moments mystical, yet out of nowhere, they rock out with fearless abandon on Wrestling Theme proving there is music aplenty up their sleeves, with drums blaring and electric guitars blazing.
Blending in music from a variety of outside sources requires a good set of ears. Using the work of Ola Belle Reed’s country blues blends in without rocking the boat. The guitar-based Whippoorwills by Chance McCoy maintains a vibe that works despite the appearance of instruments that don’t really show up in the rest of the work.
Playing a blend of country and swing, The Time Jumpers’ This Heartache injects a timeless take on heartbreak that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on a jukebox blaring Bob Wills. The ability to successfully mix time and place is exactly what makes The Peanut Butter Falcon Soundtrack so interesting. It merges genres without losing touch of the essential ingredients moving the story forward.
The saga of The Peanut Butter Falcon is more than a tale about a young man with Down syndrome. This is a story about what it means to be alive, living out your dreams and following where those dreams call you. Musically, the soundtrack follows a similar path merging styles and genres to detail a pathway between dreams and reality.