At 37, songwriter Jesse Harris is carving out a place in the pantheon of notably covered artists with his latest record of tunes, the soundtrack to the upcoming Ethan Hawke written/directed film The Hottest State. Known well as the man who penned much of Norah’s Come Away With Me (grabbing the Grammy for “Don’t Know Why”), Jesse was asked by good friend Ethan to provide songs for the flick, and the resulting crop of tunes inspired Ethan to get all conceptual:

From our first conversation, I was overwhelmed by the quality of Jesse’s songwriting and how perfectly matched it was to my aspirations for the tone and mood of the film. An idea began to develop: What if we scored the film entirely with original songs written by Jesse and performed by contemporary artists hand-picked to match certain scenes? To my mind this would give the entire film a continuity of authorship while still providing massive shifts in energy.

Sounds like a cool idea, and it got a lot cooler once Willie, Bright Eyes. M. Ward, Cat Power, Brad Mehldau, et al signed on. Now Ethan’s got a buzzy soundtrack and Jesse’s looking even more like a songwriting treasure. And of course, no collection of indie rootsy-ness is complete without reigning queen of sultry acoustic meanderings, lovely Leslie.

For “Somewhere Down The Road,” Feist sounds like she’s delivering an outtake from The Reminder sessions: faint hints of glockenspiel, some horns, and a gentle shaker flesh out her chill, coffee-shop jazz spin on Harris’s tune. Add a little Wurlitzer through the bridge and you’ve got yourself a bona fide Feist lullabye, smooth and true. Pretty.

[Pic from Feist @ Town Hall 6/12/07]

The Hottest State Soundtrack is out 8/7 via Hickory. Tracklist below.

01. Rocha”Ya No Te Veria Mas (Never See You)”
02. Willie Nelson – “Always Seem to Get Things Wrong”
03. Feist – “Somewhere Down the Road”
04. Bright Eyes – “Big Old House”
05. Emmylou Harris – “The Speed of Sound”
06. Jesse Harris – “It Will Stay With Us”
07. The Black Keys – “If You Ever Slip”
08. M. Ward – “Crooked Lines”
09. Norah Jones – “World of Trouble”
10. Brad Mehldau – “Never See You”
11. Cat Power – “It’s Alright to Fail”
12. Jesse Harris – “One Day The Dam Will Break”
13. Tony Scherr – “You, The Queen”
14. “Morning In A Strange City (Cafe)” (score)
15. Rocha – “No More
16. Jesse Harris – “Dear Dorothy”
17. Rocha – “Never See You”
18. “There Are No Second Chances” (score)