True Blood (Music from the HBO® Original Series) [Deluxe Version]

iTunes Review

The backdrop for the HBO series True Blood (Based on Charlaine Harris’ The Southern Vampire Mysteries) is a fictional Louisiana bayou town. Jace Everett’s “Bad Things” sets a sinister tone with a mid-tempo rockabilly swagger slithering under Everett’s sultry baritone. Lee Dorsey’s 1966 hit “Give It Up” fuses psychedelic sitar with the Meters’ unmistakable New Orleans funk as produced by Allen Toussaint, but the soundtrack wears Toussaint’s eerie and slow-burning “From a Whisper to a Scream” like a well-tailored glove. The Watson Twins contribute to the spooky vibe with an ethereally twangy take on the Cure’s “Just Like Heaven,” and it's very cool to hear the Flying Burrito Brothers’ “Christine’s Tune (Devil In Disguise)” in the context of a backwoods vampiress. Little Big Town’s “Bones” and John Doe’s “The Golden State” are two standouts – the former sounding like a hillbilly Fleetwood Mac and the latter a gripping country rock duet with Kathleen Edwards. The Deluxe version features three live CC Adcock tunes, though the real treat here is a live version of Zac Brown’s “Whiskey’s Gone.”