New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Acclaimed label Light in the
Attic proudly partners with River Road, Zurich Avenue, and Roadside Attractions to release Dreamin' Wild Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, available August 4th on digital platforms. The film, which arrives in theaters the same day (8/4), follows the real-life story of brothers Donnie & Joe Emerson, whose teenage dreams of rock stardom suddenly came true 30 years later.
The soundtrack blends vintage recordings by Donnie & Joe (including the cult favorite "Baby") with exclusive new performances by Donnie Emerson, Nancy
Sophia Emerson, and actor Noah Jupe, plus original score selections by composer Leopold Ross (Black Mirror, A Million
Little Pieces).
Jupe, who portrays a young Donnie Emerson, re-recorded several of the duo's classic songs for the film, including their debut single "Thoughts In My Mind." The wistful ballad, which was written and recorded while the brothers were still in high school, was originally released in 1977 on their own Enterprise & Co. label. Jupe's rendition of the song is available to stream here.
Also arriving ahead of the album is "When A
Dream Is Beautiful," a new song by husband-and-wife duo Donnie Emerson and Nancy
Sophia Emerson, and recorded in Nashville by the film's music producer and multi-GRAMMY winner Dave Cobb. The moving, autobiographical ballad will be available on August 1st across digital platforms.
On November 24th, Dreamin' Wild Original Motion Picture
Soundtrack will be released on vinyl and can be pre-ordered here. Also available is Donnie & Joe's original 1979 album, Dreamin' Wild, as well as the acclaimed 2014 collection Still Dreamin' Wild: The Lost Recordings 1979-81, which culls highlights from the brothers' prolific collection of songs. Additionally, fans can find exclusive Donnie & Joe merch at DonnieAndJoe.com.
Adapted from a profile by journalist Steven Kurutz and written, directed, and produced by Oscar and Emmy-nominee Bill Pohlad (whose extensive credits include Brokeback Mountain, 12 Years a Slave, and the
Brian Wilson biopic Love & Mercy), Dreamin' Wild stars Academy Award winner Casey Affleck, Emmy-nominee Zooey Deschanel, Emmy-nominee Walton Goggins, Chris Messina, Noah Jupe, Jack Dylan Grazer, plus Emmy and Grammy Award-winner Beau Bridges.
A true story of love and redemption, Dreamin' Wild centers around Donnie Emerson (Affleck/Jupe), a middle-aged singer-songwriter who learns that a record label is interested in reissuing the album that he and his brother recorded as teens in rural Washington State. Suddenly, the Emerson brothers find themselves thrust into the spotlight, as their 30-year-old album is hailed as a lost masterpiece.
While the album's rediscovery brings hopes of second chances, it also unearths long-buried emotions as Donnie, his wife Nancy (Deschanel), brother Joe (Goggins/Grazer), and father Don Sr. (Bridges) come to terms with the past and their newly found fame.
Named for the brothers' 1979 debut album, Dreamin' Wild is a River Road - Innisfree Production, produced by Academy Award®-winner Jim Burke, Academy and Emmy-nominee Pohlad, Kim Roth, Viviana Vezzani, and Karl Spoerri. Casey Affleck served as executive producer, alongside Emmy®-nominee Christa Workman, Dan Clifton, Steven Snyder, and Tobias Gutzwiller.
Brothers Donnie and Joe Emerson grew up on a 1600-acre farm in Fruitland, WA with dreams of musical stardom. Far removed from the punk and disco scenes of the late '70s, the boys' inspiration primarily came from a tractor radio, which they listened to for hours on end while working the fields. In between farm duties and high school, the brothers spent their remaining time on music, with Donnie serving as the primary songwriter, vocalist, guitarist, and keyboardist, and Joe holding down the beat on drums.
Donnie & Joe's parents encouraged their sons' talents - so much so that they leveraged the family farm in order to build a state-of-the-art recording studio, where the brothers self-produced their debut album, Dreamin' Wild. Released in 1979 on their own Enterprise & Co. label, the album offered a lo-fi blend of FM rock, pop, soul, and funk - evoking such contemporaries as Marvin Gaye, Hall & Oates, and the Brothers Johnson in songs like "Good Time," "Dream Full of Dreams," and "Baby."
Despite the Emersons' passions, however, Dreamin' Wild wasn't the bestseller that they envisioned. In fact, it tanked, nearly bankrupting the family in the process. Donnie and Joe's dreams did actually come true though. It just took three decades and a heavy dose of kismet.
Around 2008, record collector, actor, and Out of the Bubbling Desk blogger Jack Fleischer discovered a copy of the LP at a Spokane antique shop. Initially intrigued by the jacket image (which features the boys in flashy, Elvis-style jumpsuits), Fleischer was blown away by what he heard. Before long, word began to spread about the Emerson brothers, while their soulful ballad "Baby" became a viral hit, eliciting multiple cover versions (most popularly by Ariel Pink & Dâm-Funk). Since its digital release, the track has been streamed over 30 million times on Spotify.
In 2012, Light in the
Attic brought Dreamin' Wild to the masses, giving the Emerson brothers a second chance at stardom and an outpouring of long-overdue accolades, including features in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The Guardian, a shout-out from Jimmy Fallon, and praise from the likes of Pitchfork, which called the 1979 album "A godlike symphony to teen-hood."
The Emersons' inspiring story caught the ears of writer, director, and producer Bill Pohlad, who recently told PEOPLE, "Being able to go deep to explore this amazing family was the real reason that I was drawn to this material. Dreamin' Wild ultimately became a story about family, faith and forgiveness for me."
