Black Snake Moan [Original Soundtrack]

Performer: Original Soundtrack
Engineer: John Hampton; Kevin Houston; Matt Martone
Producer: David Evans; John Doe; David Way; Jim Dickinson; Matthew Smith; Scott Bomar; The Black Keys; Robert Palmer; Bobby Rush
Distributor: RED Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Luther Dickinson, Scott Bomar (guitar); Roy Brewer (strings); Charlie Musselwhite (harmonica); Jim Dickinson (electric piano); Cody Dickinson (drums, washboard); Othar Turner (bass drum); Edward Murray (timpani). Audio Mixers: John Hampton; Kevin Houston . Recording information: Ardent Studios, Memphis, TN; Electraphonic Recordings. Photographer: Alan Apearman. Arrangers: Jason Freeman; Precious Bryant; Scott Bomar; Marc Franklin. The soundtrack to the director Craig Brewer's sexually charged movie BLACK SNAKE MOAN expertly evokes the film's steamy Southern atmosphere, with contributions from the contemporary garage rock outfit the Black Keys, the mesmerizing Mississippi blues singer and guitarist Jessie Mae Hemphill, the juke joint performer R.L. Burnside, and one of its stars, Samuel L. Jackson, who performs creditable versions of the Blind Lemon Jefferson song from which the movie takes its name, and the blues classic "Stack-O-Lee." Black Snake Moan, the 2007 movie that stars Samuel L. Jackson as a God-fearing, bent broken soul and tortured former bluesman, with Christina Ricci playing the town tramp he feels he has to redeem by any means necessary, is a wildly provocative look at spiritual and cultural mores -- and is sure to set some folks on edge. The soundtrack that accompanies it on the other hand, is a pure shimmy-shaking blues extravaganza. The film is dedicated to the memory of R.L. Burnside. His digital ghost performs "Old Black Mattie" here, and his tune "Just Like a Bird Without a Feather," is covered by Jackson with Burnside's adopted son and sideman Kenny Brown. There are also cuts here by the Black Keys, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Scott Bomar the soundtrack's producer, John Doe, Outrageous Cherry (covering Junior Kimbrough no less), Bobby Rush, Precious Bryant and the North Mississippi Allstars. Sure, musically this is a mixed -- but mostly satisfactory -- bag. Jackson can't sing worth a damn, but he's got the feel of the blues to be sure; it's in the grain, it's not a posture. He can tell a hell of a story too; check his spoken word intro to the title track with Jason Freeman on a killer serpentine guitar. Doe does a very spooky reading of his "The Losing Kind" here, and the Allstars kick it on the end credits like a mother. The Kimbrough cover is adequate but it doesn't fit here at all, and begs the question why the producers didn't just use Kimbrough's own music. Bomar's instrumental theses are quite beautiful; they're as deeply influenced by Ennio Morricone as they are by Ry Cooder. "Alice Mae" and "Stackolee," with Jackson singing in front of a real Mississippi juke-joint crowd, are pretty great. This is Burnside's backing band with Brown, and Cedric Burnside with Luther Dickinson. Jackson doesn't need to actually sing, he's got plenty of vibe and the band kicks ass. His history is off, though, dating the latter track to 1962, when it is as old as the blues itself, but who cares? It rocks. For the most part, these are the modern-day Delta blues rather than Robert Johnson's, though there are a couple of mean voice-overs by Son House here, and that is as it should be. The soundtrack to Black Snake Moan stands on its own as a fiery good time. ~ Thom Jurek

Spin (p.87) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Jessie Mae Hemphill's 'Standing In My Doorway Crying' simply breaks your heart." Living Blues (p.37) - "[Jackson sings] in craggy low-tenor tones that ooze sincerity. The high point of the disc is Jackson's assertive recitation of 'Stack-O-Lee'..." Mojo (Publisher) (p.94) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "BLACK SNAKE MOAN could be the record that does for the blues what the OH BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? collection did for bluegrass."

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