New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Varèse Sarabande will release the WHEELER - Original Motion Picture
Soundtrack both digitally and on CD on February 3, 2017. The album features original songs and score composed by Stephen Dorff (BLADE, WORLD TRADE CENTER) and performed by Dorff as Wheeler Bryson.
WHEELER is the story of an aspiring musician from Kaufman, Texas, who travels to Nashville with the lifelong dream of trying his hand at country music. By embodying the title character under prosthetic make up, actor Stephen Dorff successfully infiltrates
Music City and takes his character on an authentic singer / songwriter journey. With the help of key allies on the ground, Wheeler converses with real people in real locations, with every musical number performed live. The line between reality and fiction blurs as Wheeler chases his dream in this touching tribute to old school country legends. Wheeler co-stars music legend Kris Kristofferson, along with Audrey Spillman,
Bobby Tomberlin, Bart Herbison, Jim Ed Norman and
Travis Meadows. The screenplay was written by Stephen Dorff and Ryan Ross
Stephen Dorff grew up not just with outlaw country, but all kinds of music in the house. Born in Atlanta, he moved with his family to Los Angeles, where his father, Steve Dorff, became one of Hollywood's most in-demand songwriter/composers, a three-time Grammy nominee, and is currently enjoying a chart topping single performed by Garth Brooks. Though Stephen Jr. gravitated toward acting - music would become the career and passion for Stephen's late brother, Andrew, who wrote No. 1 hits for
Kenny Chesney and
Blake Shelton and penned the current chart topping single by Rascal Flatts. - his love of music was never far away.
"Music was always around me growing up," said Dorff. "My dad was a
Beatles nut, and my mom wrote music as well. I remember going to Nashville with my dad when I was 8 or 9. And I've always loved film scores." Though Dorff took piano lessons as a child, he began to focus both on guitar and piano as his growing acting career would earn him choice movie roles, in such films as Backbeat, Blade, World Trade Center, Public Enemies Somewhere, and The Iceman. In 2014 an unexpected postponement on a film project gave Dorff the time to write what became a catalogue of songs. He played this music for Ryan Ross and the two hatched up the idea for what would become WHEELER.
"At the end of the day, Wheeler is a tribute to my dad and my family, and to the great country songwriters," says Dorff. "We all come from where we come from."
Track listing
Written and Performed by Wheeler Bryson
1. Wheeler
2. Pour Me Out Of This Town
3. Fever
4. Wind
5. Ryman
6. She's Only 20
7. Tribe
8.
Rainbow Slide
9. Showed Me The Way
10. Move On
11. Runner
12. Perfect Disaster
13. Eulogy
Bonus Track:
14. New Mister Me - Written and Performed by Kris Kristofferson
Momentum
Pictures presents WHEELER, in theaters and on-demand beginning February 3, 2017. The same day, Varèse Sarabande Records will release the official WHEELER soundtrack. The first single "Pour Me Out Of This Town," co-written and performed by Stephen Dorff, is available now through all major digital platforms.
