Inside Llewyn Davis OST

Tapping T Bone Burnett to produce this soundtrack was a smart move by Joel and Ethan Coen. Burnett was the driving force behind the music in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, making bluegrass cool and transforming the careers of Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch, amongst others. Now, Burnett brings his folk expertise to the fore on this wonderful collection, which has its heart in ‘60s Greenwich Village and its soul in the music that linked Liam Clancy with Bob Dylan.

Anyone looking for an adrenaline rush of righteous anger will be disappointed. These aren’t the protest songs of Dylan or Baez. They have more in common with the pastoral delights of Simon & Garfunkel or Peter, Paul and Mary. Only the hilarious and seriously catchy ‘Please Mr. Kennedy’ – sadly not eligible for an Oscar – dips its funny bone in the political arena, even as it parodies the protest song with overblown abandon (“Please Mr Kennedy... don’t shoot me into outer space”).

Most of the tunes are sung by actor Oscar Isaac, the movie’s eponymous anti-hero. Burnett has gathered some modern folk heroes to accompany the actor, including Marcus Mumford and the wonderful Punch Brothers. Isaac proves himself an accomplished vocalist, with memorable takes on traditional folkies like the melancholy ‘Hang Me’ and the aching ‘Fare Thee Well (Dink’s Song)’, the latter a duet with Mumford. One of the two takes on ‘Green, Green Rocky Road’ comes from Dave Van Ronk, the actual ’60s singer who is the inspiration for Davis.

Elsewhere, actor Stark Sands provides a haunting version of Tam Paxton’s ‘The Last Thing On My Mind’, while ‘Five Hundred Miles’ showcases the vocal talents of Carey Mulligan, alongside Justin Timberlake, who gets more impressive with every year. Timberlake gets his folk on throughout, nowhere moreso than on Dominic Behan’s ‘The Auld Triangle’, where he harmonises spectacularly with Marcus Mumford. It won’t be to everyone’s tastes and might be a little too po-faced to do for folk what O Brother... did for bluegrass. Still, there’s a warm heart beating in the chest of Inside Llewyn Davis...