Mixing it Up

Music is almost done! Luc locked his final original composition for the score last night. Gorgeous.

All the elements except our Dolly remakes, which are being pre-mixed this week and next, have found their way into the mixing studio. Into the huge, NASA-like console in Studio E. And so we now begin mixing all the aural layers of the film together this afternoon with Mr. Gavin Fernandes. I do believe we're in the home stretch, everyone! The "making" part of filmmaking is slowly but surely drawing to a close - and soon the "film" part will emerge to stand on its own.

An important finale is just around the corner. An ending that will become a whole other beginning.

Bittersweetness.

See What We're Hearing

If you weren't lucky enough to have been within earshot of Studio Victor in Montreal (home of RCA Victor) last week, you can check out some photos of The Montreal Sessions on our Facebook Fan Page.

We had our ears and hearts caressed by the sweetest sounds of Geneviève Toupin and Martha Wainwright and their accompanying musicians,

José Major; drums,
Andrée-Anne Tremblay; violin,
Rick Haworth; dobro, lap steel, harmonica
Mario Légaré; Double bass
Luc Sicard; guitar
Alex Cattaneo; original arrangements, guitar, mandolin
Elie Jalbert: sound engineer

all assembled for the recording of the first two of five Dolly "remakes" we're doing for our film.

One week later, I'm writing you this very moment from that same studio, where we have the same musical backbone - with the notable additions of Bob Stagg on keyboards, Joseph Perrault on drums and Carl Bastien on guitar - supporting the voluptuous, visceral sounds of Coral Egan for "The Grass is Blue".

One of my very favourite songs in the film is being made even more delicious than I thought possible by the chemistry between Alex's arrangements and these divine and eloquent artists.

Give me (and likely our resident whiz kid, Theresapedia) a few minutes but we'll get some visual support up on the fan page so you can see a little of what we're hearing!

Okay, the video has started to flow! See Composer (compositeur d'oeuvre commandé) Luc Sicard channel his inner maestro here.

K-Tel, Eat Your Heart Out!

So much is happening on the music front, I'm all out of breath and feeling flushed! In the very best possible way....

While my talented composer Luc Sicard continues creating beautiful, original cuts for the film's soundtrack at a superhuman pace, much behind-the-scenes arranging and deal-making has been going on in preparation for the recording of some select Dolly songs by some very special guest artists.

This other, equally important prong of our soundtrack - the actual line-up of Dolly's music - has required a veritable army of people and good will to pull off. It all began (and couldn't have gone anywhere without) the original generous offer from Dolly Parton herself to help us acquire the publishing rights to her songs.

Although Dolly had made this amazing offer to me in a personal letter, that was way back at the script stage and almost two years later, we were very careful not to take anything for granted.

But when we finished the picture edit and our final musical wish list was sent out, Dolly and her people at Velvet Apple came through big time, granting us the publishing rights to nine of Dolly's greatest hits for - well, a song. On the shiny list are, the inimitable, "Jolene", "I Will Always Love You" and "Love is Like a Butterfly"!!!

The ultimate plan for the film has always been to feature some of Dolly's original recordings as well as her compositions re-imagined by our brilliant producer/arranger, Alex Cattaneo and a hand-picked roster of guest artists.

So now, I have the absolute pleasure of saying here that, thanks to the efforts of so many generous people, we have just confirmed my DREAM line-up for the guest artists!

Check this out...

The official soundtrack for "The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom" will feature:

Miss Dolly Parton herself!

along with ...

Nelly Furtado!

Martha Wainwright!

Wailin' Jennys!

Coral Egan!

and Franco-Manitoban (now Québécoise) up-and-comer...

Geneviève Toupin!

Alex and Luc have recruited some of this city's - this country's - best musicians to record the songs. We'll be in studio on the 14th and then again on the 21st to lay down tracks and in some cases capture the vocals live off the floor for what we're calling our Dolly "remakes". Stay tuned here and on the Facebook fan page for more stuff!