The Princess Bride Mark Knopfler wrote the score for The Princess Bride (1987) — not a typical Hollywood hire, which tells you exactly what kind of off-beat film Rob Reiner was making. The main theme, Once Upon a Time…Storybook Love, is built around Knopfler’s signature […]

The Bones The Bones is a song by pop/country star, Maren Morris. Six months after its release in 2019, the song was reimagined with Hozier singing the second verse. I love this song, and I’ve been teaching the basic version to my guitar students recently. […]

An Ending, a Beginning Dustin O’Halloran might be my favorite composer next to Gustavo Santaolalla. Chances are you’ve heard his music and just didn’t realize it. He was nominated for an Oscar, and a Golden Globe for Lion (2016). That music was written in collaboration with […]

Wicked Game For my money, the two greatest unrequited love songs are: U2’s With or Without You, and Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game. The former can prompt one to hold a lighter in the air and bellow “…and you give yourself a-way-a”. The latter makes (me) […]

Wonderful Tonight Wonderful Tonight is far and away Eric Clapton’s most famous song — and one of the most romantic songs ever written. I’ve had this arrangement in my back pocket for 20 years. I had been developing and playing it at wedding ceremonies for […]

The Theory of Everything The Theory of Everything (2014) is a  biographical romantic drama film set at the University of Cambridge. It details the life of the theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. The exquisite music, by the late Johann Johannsson, won the Golden Globe for best […]

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 […]

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 […]

Where’s my Love SYML is the solo venture of Brian Fennell, who was previously part of the indie band Barcelona. His music and singing voice are incredible. I love this song, and just about everything SYML does. For a love song, Where’s My Love, has […]

This piece is the main motif from the Downton Abbey series and films. Within the score by John Lunn, this queue is known as One Hundred Years of Downton Abbey and End of an Era. It’s also the primary theme in the The Suite. I […]

More Hearts Than Mine “More Hearts Than Mine” by Ingrid Andress is an emotionally vulnerable song about (the delicate balance of) introducing a new love into your family’s life. Her lyrics paint a vivid picture of the anxieties and hopes that come with this stage […]

The Wings The Wings completes my arrangements for the Oscar winning Brokeback Mountain Soundtrack by Gustavo Santaolalla. This song is what initially drew me into Gustavo Santaolalla’s film score work, way back in 2005. The film was very controversial then, and I remember cleaning my […]