It’s rare for a small independent movie to get a lot of songs cleared to create a soundtrack to support it but that’s exactly what has happened with the film Noble Things.  Produced by M. Jason Greene, the album features fourteen new tracks which were mostly written by the producer, who is a business partner with Clay Walker, who executive produced the soundtrack for a film that features Lee Ann Womack (and will be released on DVD very soon).

The album kicks off with Blaine Larsen singing “Summertime Moonshine,” a song that recalls Craig Morgan.  It’s a distinctly different sound than what Blaine Larsen had previously recorded but it shouldn’t be a surprise that he is able to record a song like this, given how considerably talented he is.  The song is followed-up by “Old Spanish Trail,” a southern boogie anthem from Bo Bice.  I always thought he’d have had a very successful career in country music and with this Travis Tritt-like track, it’s easy to see why.   Mark Chesnutt gets two tracks on this soundtrack and both songs, the radio ready “Middle Man,” and the shufflin’ “Fool Around” matches anything in the traditionalists catalog while Pam Tillis lends her pristine voice to “Leave It All Behind.”  While this song might not be something that Pam’s longtime fans would expect to hear from her, she does a great job with the material.

Like his buddy Mark Chesnutt, Tracy Byrd scored two cuts on this record as well in the form of the beautiful tender “Take Me Fishin’,” a song that recalls “Put Your Hand In Mine,” and the swingin’ duet with Beaumont-native Zona Jones.  The latter song, “A Lotta Good Beer Went Down” is a song anybody who’s had a good time with a few cold ones can relate to.  It also is a ‘ditty’ in the fine tradition of Tracy Byrd’s “Drinkin’ Bone” and “Watermellon Crawl” tracks.  Tracy Lawrence lends his pliable vocals to “Time Heals All Wounds” and it rolls along like a classic country tune while the album ends with the title track to the film.  Performed by newcomer Brock Goodwin with Jenny Gill, “Noble Things” is the anchor song of the album and like the theme of the movie (about an up and coming singer/songwriter) the song tells the story of a Noble Man. 

This soundtrack may not have gotten the press or exposure some other country music film soundtracks have in the past but that doesn’t make it anything less. This is a well produced, performed and written soundtrack that holds up, even outside of the film.  It’s a collection of tunes that is full of wonderful performances from many of the best in country music.

You can purchase this soundtrack digitally at Amazon | iTunes.