AMBIENT AMERICANA
ALWAYS RETURNING
Five albums that pioneered the new cosmic pastoral
BRUCE LANGHORNE
THE HIRED HAND SOUNDTRACK (1971)
Langhorne, long rumoured to be the inspiration for Dylan’s “Mr Tambourine Man”, composed the austere score for Peter Fonda’s 1971 western The Hired Hand, about a cowboy whoreturns homeafter years of wandering the range. It’s aquietly subversive reimagining of western soundtracks, using guitar, banjo, fiddle and even sitar not to capture the grandeur of Monument Valley but to create intimate, life-size backdrops. 9/10