Nick Cave / The Bootleggers - Lawless (CD)

Nick Cave and Warren Ellis' latest soundtrack offering finds the ex-Grinderman/current Bad Seeds provocateurs providing a typically atmospheric score, while handing over vocal duties to some big names. Cave, who also wrote the screenplay, provides Lawless with a pair of new originals in "Cosmonaut" and "Fire in the Blood," both of which are performed by Emmylou Harris, who also offers up a take on Townes Van Zandt's "Snake Song," while bluegrass pioneer Ralph Stanley turns in a cover of the Velvet Underground's "White Light/White Heat" with the score's house band, the Bootleggers, featuring Mark Lanegan. Willie Nelson also makes an appearance, providing a previously unreleased song in "Midnight Run."