Featuring Original Music By John Leventhal
And An Exclusive Song Performed by Rosanne Cash
Lakeshore Records will release the BIG STONE GAP – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack digitally on October 9th and on CD December 11, 2015. The album features tracks from the film curated by the film’s writer and director, Adriana Trigiani, original music by John Leventhal, and track recorded for the film by Rosanne Cash.
Like the protagonist Ave Maria Mulligan, writer/director Adriana Trigiani grew up in Big Stone Gap, Virginia – an Italian growing up in the Appalachians. It was that special upbringing that allowed her a deep understanding of what those labels meant in the time and place. With this film she was able to express these lessons not only artistically, but musically as well, knowing that the sound of the region helps make BIG STONE GAP what it is. Trigiani artfully arranged original score pieces with other timeless selections, illuminating this unique perspective on the life lived in the Coal Mountains.
Based on her best-selling novel of the same name, writer/director Adriana Trigiani brings the story of a coal-mining town nestled in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia to vivid life. It’s 1978 and the ever-ordinary Ave Maria Mulligan (Ashley Judd) lives a simple life. Ave Maria lives with her mother, runs the pharmacy, directs The Trail of the Lonesome Pine Outdoor Drama, and hopes that Theodore Tipton, her best friend and the high school band director will take their platonic friendship in a romantic direction. Ave Maria waits, and before she knows it, she turns 40. Now the old maid of Big Stone Gap, Ave Maria decides that happiness is for other people – that is, until a long-buried family secret throws her quiet life spectacularly off-course.
The all-star cast includes Patrick Wilson, Whoopi Goldberg, John Benjamin Hickey, Judith Ivey, Anthony LaPaglia, Chris Sarandon, Jasmine Guy, Jane Krakowski, James Hampton, Paul Wilson, Mary Pat Gleason, Dagmara Domińczyk, Mary Testa, and Jenna Elfman. Shot entirely on location in the rolling hills of the real Big Stone Gap, Virginia, and featuring local talent at every turn, the film is truly a love letter to small town life, working people and the triumph of love.
“John Leventhal is a great composer, he created glorious score, which is at turns spare and suddenly lush, just as our mountains at the turn of the seasons,” said Trigiani. “His beautiful wife Rosanne Cash, leads Ave Maria Mulligan up the mountain with her blockbuster hit ‘Seven Year Ache’ and through her deepest grief with the outdoor drama staple ‘Barbara Allen.’”
John Leventhal is an extraordinary composer, arranger, singer, songwriter, producer, musician and recording engineer. He’s won four Grammy Awards and has produced 14 Grammy nominated recordings. He has produced albums for Michelle Branch, Marc Cohn, Shawn Colvin, Rodney Crowell, Jim Lauderdale, Joan Osborne, Loudon Wainwright III and many others. As a musician he has worked with these artists as well as Jackson Browne, Willie Nelson, Bruce Hornsby, Elvis Costello, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, David Crosby, Levon Helm, Paul Simon and Johnny Cash. Leventhal co-wrote, arranged and co-produced all of the songs on Rosanne Cash’s 2014 release “The River & the Thread.” In 2004 Leventhal composed the score for the film Winter Solstice. His gifted songwriting has attracted various artists to record more than 150 of his songs.
1. Seven Year Ache – Rosanne Cash
2. Rocky Island – Ralph Stanley
3. Shenandoah – Michael Trigiani
4. White Wings – If Birds Could Fly
5. The Morning After – John Leventhal
6. Lost Indian Papa – Joe Smiddy and The Reedy Creek Boys
7. Patchwork Sky – Michael Trigiani
8. Letters – John Leventhal
9. Flat Nickel – If Birds Could Fly
10. The Ballad of Red Fox – Michael Trigiani
11. Spec and Ave – John Leventhal
12. Selling Mutual’s – John Leventhal
13. The Lonesome Pine – Michael Trigiani
14. Barbara Allen – Rosanne Cash
