I can’t believe I’ve never done one of these posts for Land of Hills and Valleys yet! Somehow in the whirl of actually getting the book published last fall, it slipped my mind that I never shared my inspiration playlist as I’ve done for some of my other books. In spite of the years I spent working on this book, it isn’t an extremely long list, but what songs there are on it have all served their purpose well.
- Soundtrack suite from The Red Pony by Aaron Copland: “Morning on the Ranch,” “The Gift,” “Walk to the Bunkhouse,” and “Grandfather’s Story.” For every full-length story I seem to have a handful of tracks that are simply the soundtrack to the book, and for Land of Hills and Valleys it was this music. It’s been associated with the story in my head for most of the many years that it took to write, and so perfectly suits the mood of the story and the way I picture the setting.
- A few tracks from To Kill a Mockingbird by Elmer Bernstein—particularly “Roll in the Tire”, “Creepy Caper/Peek-a-Boo.”, “Jem’s Discovery,” and “Lynch Mob.” For me these evoke both the 1930s setting and the mood of the book’s suspenseful scenes (like Lena’s nocturnal adventure in Chapter 10).
- “Jim’s New Life,” from Empire of the Sun by John Williams. Sometimes there’s no thematic link at all between the movie that my inspiration music comes from and the story it helps to inspire, and that’s the case here. The music just fits.
- “Everything I Do (I Do it For You)” by Linda Eder. This song has been associated with the romantic plot line in Land of Hills and Valleys in my head for a long time. You’ll have to read it to figure out why.
- “Maid Marian” and “Marian at the Waterfall” from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves by Michael Kamen. Again, there’s no thematic connection here except that these tracks are both instrumental versions of “Everything I Do,” and so they felt kind of like the love theme for the book.
- “Old Pioneer” by the Sons of the Pioneers—I didn’t associate this song with the book until more recently, but I realized one day how well it fits elements of the backstory.
- “Sunset on the Trail” by the Sons of the Pioneers: another later addition that goes with the romantic element.
- Fan contribution: “Awake” by Josh Groban. A reader sent me this song (how cool is that?) and said it reminded them of a certain part of the love story, and I think it does fit!
photo credit: ArtBrom // flickr commons
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