Her Life Was Over, by Gustavo Santaolalla, is a short fingerstyle motif from the soundtrack of Wild Life. This film is a documentary about life of Doug Tompkins (founder of North Face) and his wife, Kris. Although the documentary is not widely known, the guitar […]

Leaves From The Vine Leaves From The Vine was recommended to me by one of my guitar students. This piece is from the original anime series, Avatar: The Last Airbender. I thought it was beautiful and poignant. There’s also a nice orchestrated version from the […]

A Model of the Universe This has been one of my all time favorite pieces by the late composer, Johann Johannsson. While I love all of his music, The Theory of Everything, won the Golden Globe for ‘best score’ and is widely considered to be […]

The Star Spangled Banner The Star Spangled Banner is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from a poem written on September 14, 1814, by a then 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key. He wrote the piece after […]

What Was I Made For? is the prototypical tune from Billie Eilish. However, the underpinnings show incredible musicality and restraint. Billie Eilish and her brother/writing partner FINNEAS created a very intimate song. I especially like Eilish’s choice of a delicate, breathy falsetto. She explains and demonstrates […]

American Prometheus I’ve been obsessing over the Ludwig Göransson’s Oppenheimer soundtrack since the film’s release. Just brilliant. Like Hans Zimmer at his peak in the 2010’s. This is a complex story about a complex individual — and Christopher Nolan leans heavily on the music to […]

Tim & The Bears I’ve always loved this piece by the legendary British folk guitarist, Richard Thompson. Tim & The Bears is from Werner Herzog’s quirky documentary, Grizzly Man. The film is about Timothy Treadwell, a nature enthusiast who lived with Alaskan Grizzlies for 13 seasons […]

A Time of Quiet Between the Storms After completion of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune in 2021, Hans Zimmer, was still inspired and continued writing music. This led to the piece, A Time of Quiet Between the Storms. Zimmer tours extensively, bringing his film music to audiences […]

Bella Poor Things is a 2023 film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. The movie is based on the 1992 novel (of the same name) by Alasdair Gray. The story follows Bella (Emma Stone), a young woman in Victorian London, who is brought back to life by […]

The Road This piece, by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, is the theme from the 2009 film “The Road”; based on the Cormac McCarthy novel (by the same name).  The story details the grueling journey of a father and his young son over a period […]

Spanish Ladies “Spanish Ladies” is a traditional British naval song, dating back, by some estimates, to the 1620’s. The song is considered a sea shanty; work songs sung by merchant sailors. I first heard this tune as a kid when Quint (played by actor Robert […]

Fargo The FX anthology series Fargo, is a dark comedy crime drama inspired by the 1996 Coen brothers film of the same name. The series is set in various locations in the American Midwest, and each season tells a new crime story with a new […]