Both Lakeshore Records and Rockstar Games have announced the release date for The Music Of Red Dead Redemption 2: Original Soundtrack, a long-awaited collection of vocal tracks currently featured in the blockbuster videogame Red Dead Redemption 2. The videogame is not only labeled as the highest-rated game of its generation but has also earned over $725 million in its opening weekend. Produced by 11-time Grammy Award winner Daniel Lanois, The Music Of Red Dead Redemption 2: Original Soundtrack is considered “a powerful, emotional journey through the final days of America’s outlaw era.”
According to the press release, Red Dead Redemption 2 follows Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang as they rob, steal and fight their way across the rugged heartland of America in order to survive. Following a botched robbery in the western town of Blackwater, the gang is forced to flee and, with federal agents and the best bounty hunters in the nation massing on their heels, deepening internal divisions threaten to tear the gang apart, leaving Arthur to make a choice between his own [ideas] and loyalty to the gang who raised him.
“Red Dead Redemption 2 provided a terrific compositional space, vast and covering a range of emotional textures – a real place for my imagination to run wild,” said Lanois. “From recording with Rhiannon Giddens in Nashville, to New Orleans with my friend Cyril Neville, to New York City with D’Angelo, to Willie Nelson and Josh Homme, the inspiration never quit!”
The album is slated to be released digitally next month on July 12, while the companion album, The Music of Red Dead Redemption 2: Original Score composed by Woody Jackson will be available this summer. It features vocals from several well-known artists including D’Angelo, Willie Nelson, Rhiannon Giddens, Josh Homme, and an additional track written, produced and performed by David Ferguson.
View two tracks and the tracklist from the forthcoming album below.
“I had a great time reuniting with Lanois to compose for this project, and I’m incredibly grateful to see how the ‘Crash Of Worlds’ chant has touched the hearts of so many players through the game,” said composer, Rocco DeLuca.
Lanois described the song as “a defiant mantra of faith and values, preaching balance in the most turbulent of times.”