The Last of the Mohicans While the film and soundtrack are timeless — the music production was fairly chaotic for The Last of the Mohicans. Director Michael Mann had initially requested that Trevor Jones (composer) provide an electronic score for the film. That surprises me […]

The Ludlows Legends of the Fall (1994) is a sweeping epic that chronicles the lives of the Ludlow family in early 20th century Montana. Colonel William Ludlow, a disillusioned former U.S. Army officer, has retreated to the wilderness with his three sons: Alfred, the responsible […]

Healing Katniss In a dystopian future, The Hungers Games (2012) tells the story of Katniss Everdeen, who is forced to compete in an elaborate televised fight to the death, consisting of adolescent contestants from the 12 Districts of Panem. “Healing Katniss” is arguably the best […]

Sign of the Times Harry Styles’ moonshot is much like Robbie Williams’ ascension in the early 2000’s: former British “boy-band” member goes solo, combining songwriting chops with sensational stage presence and charisma. The American version of this story would be Justin Timberlake. Songwriting craftsmanship is […]

Cover Me Up Cover Me Up was the song that first introduced me to incredible singer/songwriter Jason Isbell. Forget the writing – the raw honesty of the song, and power of Isbell’s voice is what captured me. It’s just brutal in every good sense of […]

Longing This arrangement combines both Longing and Longing (Redemptions) from The Last of Us Part II soundtrack. The latter of which is played on a Ronroco (a tiny, 5 string Andean guitar) that Gustavo Santaolalla employs throughout his soundtracks. Both pieces comprise his trademark minimalism; […]

Rue’s Farewell Rue’s Farewell is one of my favorites from James Newton Howard. I created my own arrangement; adding the orchestration – in addition to the actual guitar part from the original piece. The Hunger Games were a great series of movies, and the music […]

Paint It Black (iconic riff starts at 0:23) While playing around with the Paint It Black riff — my guitar (with a mind of it’s own) — decided to toss in The Night King by Ramin Djawadi, and a little bit of the James Bond […]

The Choice Although I haven’t played The Last of Us game, I think the HBO series is amazing. The Choice has long been one of my favorite pieces of music by composer, Gustavo Santaolalla. He truly has a knack for the “major lift” which is […]

No Time for Caution This music is from one of the more intense scenes of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar — as they attempt a perilous docking maneuver that is incredibly intricate and fraught with danger. The Endurance and Endurance B (piloted by Cooper and Dr. Brand) […]

Finding the Master “At first the music almost repelled me, it was so intense, and this man (Robert Johnson) made no attempt to sugarcoat what he was trying to say, or play. It was hard-core, more than anything I had ever heard. After a few […]

Young and Beautiful The Great Gatsby is a film based on the 1925 novel of the same name. The film follows the life and times of millionaire, Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his neighbor, Nick Carraway. A decade later, a classic image from the film […]