Transamerica Original Soundtrack

Description

Given the ultraconservative views of the core country music audience, the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered communities might get a small chuckle out of the fact that the predominant genres on this soundtrack to a film about a pre-operative male-to-female transsexual and her son are country, bluegrass, and gospel. But that music was precisely the right choice. Not only are the two main characters, Bree and Toby, journeying through the heartland of America, but their trip is also a journey of transformation. (And Toby believes the woman who has come to get him is a Christian missionary.) To underscore these points, writer/director Duncan Tucker has hand-picked his songs and artists, especially Duncan Sheik's poignant "I Am a Pilgrim," Wylie and the Wild West's gorgeous "Odessa Yodel," and Old Crow Medicine Show's "Take 'Em Away." And Dolly Parton, whose Oscar-nominated "Travelin' Thru"--a song she wrote specifically for the movie--has long appeared to some as the ultimate female impersonator, given her flamboyant wigs, dress, and oversized smile. More importantly, she has been outspoken in embracing her huge GLBT fan base. Her song boasts a fine lyric about redemption, spiritual searching, and connectedness, even as the melody and arrangement incorporate so many features of her other work that it seems a bit of a retread. Typically, four snippets of dialogue ("That'll put hair on your chest." "Hope not.") are interspersed between songs, and most of them fall flat if you haven't seen the film. Still, like the best of country, bluegrass, and gospel, the album conveys a devout truth that conjures the emotional fervency and release of reaching one's destination--and finally coming home. --Alanna Nash