Various Artists - 'Coal Miner's Daughter' Soundtrack

he Bottom Line

The soundtrack of the Academy Award-winning movie based on Loretta Lynn's life story. 

 

Pros

• The actors do their own singing, and do it well.
• Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn.
• Beverly D'Angelo as Patsy Cline.

Cons

• Does not have all the songs from the movie which a CD release could have contained; too short.

Description

• Some tight, strong re-workings of some classic country music.
• Sissy Spacek plays Loretta Lynn on some of her greatest songs.
• Beverly D'Angelo turns a stunning performance singing Patsy Cline.

Guide Review - Various Artists - 'Coal Miner's Daughter' Soundtrack

Usually when Hollywood makes a biography movie they don't set out to make a great movie. Frequently, it's just an excuse to make a soundtrack of oldies to sell something on the strength of the subject's name. But in the case of Coal Miner's Daughter, they were on to something far more. In this case, the soundtrack is a bonus to a truly superior movie, rather than just residuals. In most cases, when a singer is portrayed in a movie, the actor doesn't sing their own songs; the music is dubbed from original tapes, as in Your Cheatin' Heart, and Sweet Dreams. But for Coal Miner's Daughter, Sissy Spacek did her own singing, and she turned in such a credible and believable performance as Loretta Lynn, that she was given an Academy Award for it. I'm rather surprised she also didn't earn a Grammy.
Kudos go also to Beverly D'Angelo, who played Patsy Cline so well (and sung it so phenomenally) that I was hugely disappointed in the actress who later played Cline in the movie Sweet Dreams.
In addition to Spacek and D'Angelo, Levon Helms gives a credible performance as Bill Monroe singing "Blue Moon of Kentucky." But a CD could have contained all the songs Spacek did for the movie, such as "Your Squaw is on the Warpath," and Loretta Lynn's anthem, "Fist City." Still, it's a CD that waited too long to be made, and it's good to have it around now.