The music of True Detective

25 February 2014 · Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Season 1 of HBO’s True Detective is—bar none—the best show on TV right now. One of the things that makes it so is the music, curated by the inestimable T Bone Burnett.

Below are iTunes links to all of the music from the series. Please mention in the comments if anything is incorrect or I’m missing anything. My primary source for these is this page on TuneFind HBO.com.

Update: Turns out HBO has a page of the music for each episode! They even link to iTunes to buy the tracks! (Well, they link to most of the tracks. Looks like Bob Dylan’s “Rocks and Gravel” isn’t on the iTunes Store.) I’ve linked each episode below to the HBO page for that episode. In case you don’t have Flash installed, I’ve also updated my lists so you can still get the tracks.

Episode 1: The Long Bright Dark

• Far from Any Road by The Handsome Family — theme song, played at the opening of each episode
• Rocks and Gravel by Bob Dylan
• Sign of the Judgement by The McIntosh County Shouters
• Young Men Dead by The Black Angels

Episode 2: Seeing Things

• Unfriendly Women by John Lee Hooker
• One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer by John Lee Hooker
• Train Song (Columbia Single, 1966) by Vashti Bunyan
• Sign of the Judgement with underscore by T Bone Burnett by The McIntosh County Shouters
• You Better Run to the City of Refuge by Reverend C.J. Johnson and Family
• Meet Me In the Alleyway by Steve Earle
• If I Live or Die by Cuff the Duke
• Kingdom of Heaven by The 13th Floor Elevators

Episode 3: The Locked Room

• Stand By Me by The Staple Singers
• Does My Ring Burn Your Finger by Buddy Miller
• I’m a One Woman Man by Johnny Horton
• The Heart That You Own by Jo-El Sonnier — not on iTunes, but here’s the Dwight Yoakam version
• Evangeline Special by Jo-El Sonnier

Episode 4: Who Goes There

• Bring It to Jerome by Bo Diddley
• The Brain Center at Whipples by Melvins
• Illegal Business by Boogie Down Productions
• Sur Le Borde de L’Eau (On the Water’s Edge) by Blind Uncle Gaspard
• Are You Alright? by Lucinda Williams
• Rainin’ in My Heart by Slim Harpo
• A History of Bad Men by Melvins
• American Life by Primus
• Holy Mountain by Sleep
• Clan In Da Front by Wu-Tang Clan
• Honey Bee (Let’s Fly to Mars) by Grinderman

Episode 5: The Secret Fate of All Life

• Casey’s Last Ride by Kris Kristofferson
• Tired of Waiting for You by The Kinks
• Eli by Bosnian Rainbows

Episode 6: Haunted Houses

• Waymore’s Blues by Waylon Jennings
• Les Champs Élysée by Bobby Charles
• Every Man Needs a Companion by Father John Misty
• Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Aria by Glenn Gould
• The Good Book by Emmylou Harris
• Too Many Tears In My Eyes by Ike & Tina Turner
• Core Chant by Meredith Monk

Episode 7: After You’ve Gone

• Angel of the Morning by Juice Newton
• Trance Figure by School of the Seven Bells
• Floating Bridge by Gregg Allman
• Red Light by Vincent & Mr Green
• Fault Line by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
• Did She Jump or Was She Pushed by Richard & Linda Thompson
• Lungs by Townes Van Zandt

Episode 8: Form and Void

• The Angry River

Not sure what gives, but as of 11:00 p.m. Sunday night, HBO has only posted 1 of the songs from tonight’s finale (and that was on their Twitter feed.) I’ll check back tomorrow to see if they’ve posted any more.

Update: 24 hours later and still no sign of a music list for episode 8 on HBO.com. I’m going to assume it’s not coming. Thanks for playing!