The soundtrack consists of Appalachian, roots music, and old-time music to accompany the era of the movie. Jack White, of the rock band the White Stripes, performs five songs and appears as a troubadour in the movie.[2]
Background
When T Bone Burnett was looking for a young musician who understood the music of Cold Mountain, the person he came up with was Jack White, a rock guitarist from Detroit who had a deep interest in blues and bluegrass music. White was acquainted with two songs that appeared on the soundtrack. When he was fifteen, he played "Sitting on Top of the World", and years later he performed "The Wayfaring Stranger" with a band. Burnett and White met and talked about music and listened to Dock Boggs, Son House, Jimmie Rodgers, and Blind Willie Johnson.[3]
With the help of John Cohen, a musicologist and founding member of the New Lost City Ramblers, Burnett continued his quest for experts on early American music. He found Dirk Powell, who played banjo, the Reeltime Travelers, an old-time music band from Tennessee, and Tim Eriksen, a vocalist and guitarist who was familiar with Sacred Harp music.[3] The song "Idumea" is an example of Sacred Harp music, also known as shape note because the notes printed on the sheet music bear shapes, such as squares and triangles, to show changes in pitch.[4] After rehearsing with the Sacred Harp singers in a studio, Burnett decided that the style was best heard in Liberty Baptist Church in Henagar, Alabama. The church's sixty-three member choir appeared on the soundtrack. "Lady Margaret", sung by choir member Cassie Franklin, appeared on the soundtrack but not in the movie.[3]
Sting wrote "You Will Be My Ain True Love" for Cold Mountain, and it was sung by Alison Krauss. Burnett and Elvis Costello wrote "The Scarlet Tide", also sung by Krauss. Both songs received Academy Award nominations for Best Original Song and Grammy Award nominations for Best Song Written for Visual Media. The soundtrack reached No. 51 on the Billboard 200 chart. As of 2004, the soundtrack has sold 260,000 copies in United States.[5] The DVD of the movie included a concert documentary with performances by some of the musicians who contributed to the soundtrack.[3]
