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The Lasse Hallstrom-directed adaptation of Annie Proulx's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel stars Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore, and Cate Blanchett. It was filmed in Great Big Sea's home province.
That connection helped the band land five songs into the film's score. The final cut of the film will feature "Bad As I Am," "Goin' Up," "Dancing With Mrs. White," "The Jolly Butcher", and "Billy Peddle", all songs included on previously released GBS albums.
"They filmed most of it in rural Newfoundland, and friends of ours were working on the movie and planted a seed: 'We have friends who have great music ...'," GBS's Alan Doyle told JAM! Music in a telephone interview from Newfoundland, during promotional duties for Great Big Sea's upcoming album "Sea Of No Cares."
"That, combined with our management and the efforts of our publisher in America, (landed the songs in the film)."
Doyle said he viewed an early print of the film -- which he dubbed a "great movie" -- but said it only featured only one of the band's songs as "background music."
"I found out two days later that before they go public, they wanted to add more lively music to it, and that is what is going down," he said, adding that while the music is in the film, there is no planned "Shipping News" soundtrack album planned.
The success of another film score, the Coen Brothers' "O Brother, Where Art Thou," has triggered a wave of renewed interest in bluegrass, blues, and folk music, and Doyle said he has been encouraged by the growing audience for traditional music.
"It is a fantastic thing that regionally based, indigenous music in America is finally making it to the forefront. It is fantastic that Britney Spears is sitting next to Alison Krauss, or that groovy new bluegrass band Nickel Creek. Or the new Dolly Parton album, which is friggin' excellent," Doyle said.
With a little luck, that new openness to traditional music will help expose Great Big Sea to a wider audience, which ultimately is good for the preservation of regional musical styles, he said.
"I think it is excellent when folk music forms make it to the forefront. And I think it is sad when it doesn't happen. We travel in Europe -- Germany or Denmark. And they come to Great Big Sea concerts, and they love the fact that people sing about their homes or sing songs their great-grandparents sang. But they don't do it themselves. There is no German polka band reinventing the accordion in the top 40.
"Travelling in Denmark, you ask people on the street, sing me a Danish folk song, and they can't. I hate that. It is a sad thing. When folk music forms don't have a chance, you can see them dying," Doyle said.
"Most bluegrass songs and old Newfoundland songs weren't written for the record industry. They weren't written to be recorded. They were made before there was a music industry. So it is real songs about real things. That is what is so beautiful and so rare. We can't do that anymore. We are too aware of the music industry. There is an innocence in those music forms."
"Sea Of No Cares" is due in stores Feb. 19. Check back with JAM! Music in January for an interview with Doyle about the new album.