WEST LOS ANGELES - The Village Recording Studios (www.villagestudios.com) had a supporting role in music biopic, Walk the Line. The original soundtrack for the movie, which chronicles the early years of country music legend Johnny Cash, was composed by roots music aficionado T-Bone Burnett and recorded and mixed by the Grammy Award-winning producer in Studio D at The Village. Additionally, the 5.1 mix was created by Frank Wolf in Studio B.
Executive music producer Burnett tracked the scoring sessions with longtime engineering partner Michael Piersante and assistant engineer Jason Wormer through the Neve 88R analogue console in Studio D. The team also tracked vocals at The Village with actor Joaquin Phoenix, who plays Cash in the movie, for some of the pre-recorded source music used to recreate the country star's live and in-studio performances in the film. Musicians on the recording sessions at The Village also included drummer Jim Keltner, guitarists Bill Frisell and Marc Ribot, bass player Dennis Crouch and keyboard player Keith Ciancia, in addition to Burnett.
Phoenix performed all of the vocals for his musical performances in Walk the Line. He and Reese Witherspoon, who plays Cash's wife, received intensive vocal training from Burnett. Phoenix also learned to play guitar, while Witherspoon learned to play June Carter Cash's instrument of choice, the autoharp.
Frank Wolf (The Producers, Seabiscuit) was brought in for the 5.1 music mix, which he performed on the Neve VR console in The Village's Studio B. Engineer Ghian Wright assisted.
Burnett has been recognized for his work on Walk the Line with a nomination for BAFTA's Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music, an award he won for Cold Mountain. He was Oscar-nominated for his work on the soundtracks of O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Cold Mountain, and was the Recording Academy's producer of the year (non-classical) in 2002. Walk the Line is up for a total of five Oscars, including sound mixing.