Pitchfork

Write what you know, the saying goes. Looks like Ethan Hawke took that nugget verbatim when penning his 1997 novel The Hottest State, which details a struggling actor's relationship with a testy singer-songwriter. This summer, Hawke's literary endeavor comes full circle (or, depending on whom you ask, back where it belonged in the first place) as The Hottest State hits the silver screen under the actor's direction-- with an appropriately hot soundtrack to match.

NYC songwriter and Norah Jones/Bright Eyes collaborator Jesse Harris wrote all the tunes to accompany Hawke's cinematic vision, and a fine little corral of performers helps bring them to life. Bright Eyes and Jones turn up, as do Cat Power, Feist, M. Ward, the Black Keys, Willie Nelson, and Emmylou Harris. Of no apparent relation to Emmylou, Jesse Harris himself-- who appears in the film, and whose seventh album, Feel, arrives July 10 via Velour-- even plays a few of his own to round out the star-studded soundtrack. A release date has not yet been determined.

Thanks to THINKFilm, The Hottest State heats up select theaters in New York City and L.A. beginning August 24. Thanks to Amazon.com and the principal of supply and demand, the novel upon which the film is based can be yours right now for $0.01.

The Hottest State:

01 Rosario Ortega - "Never See You (Spanish)"
02 Willie Nelson - "Always Seem to Get Things Wrong"
03 Feist - "Somewhere Down the Road"
04 Bright Eyes - "Big Old House"
05 Emmylou Harris - "The Speed of Sound"
06 Jesse Harris - "It Will Stay With Us"
07 The Black Keys - "If You Ever Slip"
08 M. Ward - "Crooked Lines"
09 Norah Jones - "World of Trouble"
10 Brad Mehldau - "Never See You (Instrumental)"
11 Cat Power - "It's Alright to Fail"
12 Jesse Harris - "One Day the Dam Will Break"
13 Tony Scherr - "You, the Queen"
14 "Morning in a Strange City (Cafe)"
15 Rosario Ortega - "No More"
16 Jesse Harris - "Dear Dorothy"
17 Rosario Ortega - "Never See You (English)"
18 "There Are No Second Chances"