The Office  My wife and I plowed through The Office in 2019. All of my teenage guitar students had been imploring me to watch it. The series turned out to be just the right thing for us — as I get home late from work […]

The Long Night I loved the end credits theme from Game of Thrones, Season 8 Episode 3. The Episode is called The Long Night and the end credits song is called Not Today. This piece served as an abbreviated preamble of Ramin Djawadi’s, The Night […]

Jenny of Oldstones This was a great tune performed in Game of Thrones (Season 8, Episode 2). It was hauntingly reprised during the end credits by Florence + the Machine. My classical guitar version is based on the end credits. With a song like Jenny […]

The Last of Us (Astray) Astray is basically an iteration of the main title theme played on a Fender guitar bass: a six string bass that looks and feels more like a baritone guitar. Gustavo Santaolalla employed the guitar bass on other selections from The […]

Until the Heart Whispers Back Listen on Spotify. I wrote this song for my wife Jennifer. She’s the sole reason why I’m a father, and play guitar for a living. As it happens, music is my best currency – and nothing cements my feelings for […]

Isolated System I love this instrumental piece by Muse. It worked perfectly as the theme song for Brad Pitt’s World War Z in 2013. Using Isolated System was a brilliant stroke. Another great example of an outsourced song becoming a theme is Tubular Bells from […]

A Lannister Always pays His Debts I’ve always loved this piece from Games of Thrones Season 3. It’s really a classic motif from the series called, The Rains of Castamere. The Lannister variant is an extended more melodic version. I paired down the piece to something […]

Lily’s Theme Lily’s Theme, by composer Alexandre Desplat, is one of the most poignant pieces of music from the Harry Potter films. This was was one of the first songs I ever posted — way back in 2011. It was time for a redo as […]

Summer Storm The Glass Castle (the book and movie) recount the unconventional, poverty-stricken upbringing of Jeannette Walls and her siblings had at the hands of their deeply dysfunctional parents. The title refers to her father’s long held intention of building his dream house, ‘a glass […]

If Beale Street Could Talk If Beale Street Could Talk is a 2018 romantic drama film written and directed by Barry Jenkins. The film follows a young woman in early 1970s Harlem — who seeks to clear the name of her lover, charged with a […]

Death Letter “We’re starting and ending the season with deep, deep classic American vernacular,” T Bone Burnett – music producer and soundtrack curator of HBO’s True Detective. ‘Death Letter Blues’ was originally recorded by Delta Blues artist, Son House, in 1965. Cassandra Wilson’s 1995 version […]

Bird Box I just watched Bird Box (Netflix) and I loved it. Obviously the film draws comparisons to The Happening and A Quiet Place but it still feels highly original. Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross bring the melancholy and creeping dread with their typical sound. […]