Bruce Langhorne "The Hired Hand" (OST)

Bruce Langhorne’s film score to Peter Fonda’s 1971 cult classic “The Hired Hand / さすらいのカウボーイ” starring Fonda, Warren Oates, and Verna Bloom, is just now available on LP in a hand-numbered, limited edition pressing via Scissor Tail Editions.

Langhorne performed live with Dylan at Newport, produced records for Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and was the real-life inspiration for “Mr. Tamborine Man.” His crowning achievement however may be the soundtrack he composed for Peter Fonda’s directorial debut, The Hired Hand. Surprisingly, for such a seasoned veteran of the booming folk scene, this was Langhorne’s first solo record. Recorded in the garage of his Laurel Canyon home in 1969 using an Echoplex and a two-track Revox tape machine, the album features an assortment of period instruments from the old west—fiddle, dulcimer, recorder, banjo, upright piano, harmonica and Langhorne’s National steel string guitar. The spacey, hypnotizing score was a perfect match for Fonda’s atmospheric western and along with Vilmos Zigmond’s stunning cinematography and some top-notch performances from Warren Oates, Verna Bloom and poet Michael McClure, heavily contributed to the film’s underground success.  -- Scissor Tail Editions