Pitchfork

It would have been a pretty sweet soundtrack with just Stephen Malkmus, the Hold Steady, Jim James, Calexico, Roger McGuinn, and Willie Nelson. But now comes word, via Billboard.com, that the soundtrack to the forthcoming Dylan avant-biopic I'm Not There-- in which everyone from Richard Gere to Cate Blanchett plays the harmonica-toting troubadour born Robert Zimmerman-- is shaping up to be quite a monster.

Additions since our last report include Sufjan Stevens, Sonic Youth (whose Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley pop up elsewhere-- more on that in a sec), Jeff Tweedy, Cat Power, Karen O, Antony and the Johnsons, Yo La Tengo, the Black Keys, Tom Verlaine, Mark Lanegan, Eddie Vedder, Iron and Wine, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Mira Billotte (White Magic), the Frames' Glen Hansard (with Marketa Irglova, his co-star in Once), and Dylan himself.

All contributors cover Dylan songs. Bob, naturally, lends B-side "I'm Not There" to the soundtrack; Sonic Youth also cover that tune.

Backing Malkmus, Karen O, Verlaine, and Vedder are "The Million Dollar Bashers", an ad hoc combo comprised of Ranaldo and Shelley, along with Verlaine, Wilco's Nels Cline, and Smokey Hormel on guitar, John Medeski (sans frequent partners Martin and Wood) on keyboard, and Bob's own buddy Tony Garnier on bass.

Calexico also play backing band to quite a few folks, including James, McGuinn, Nelson, Gainsbourg, and Iron and Wine.

Columbia will release the I'm Not There soundtrack on October 30, while the Todd Haynes-directed film hits U.S. theaters November 21.

I'm Not There soundtrack (unsequenced):

Eddie Vedder and the Million Dollar Bashers: "All Along the Watchtower"
Mira Billotte: "As I Went Out One Morning"
Stephen Malkmus and the Million Dollar Bashers: "Ballad of a Thin Man"
Los Lobos: "Billy"
The Hold Steady: "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window"
Stephen Malkmus and Lee Ranaldo: "Can't Leave Her Behind"
Tom Verlaine and the Million Dollar Bashers: "Cold Irons Bound"
Iron and Wine and Calexico: "Dark Eyes"
Yo La Tengo: "Fourth Time Around"
Jim James and Calexico: "Goin' to Acapulco"
Karen O and the Million Dollar Bashers: "Highway 61 Revisited"
John Doe: "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine"
Yo La Tengo: "I Wanna Be Your Lover"
Bob Dylan: "I'm Not There"
Sonic Youth: "I'm Not There"
Charlotte Gainsbourg and Calexico: "Just Like a Woman"
Ramblin' Jack Elliott: "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues"
Antony and the Johnsons: "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
Mason Jennings: "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll"
Stephen Malkmus and the Million Dollar Bashers: "Maggie's Farm"
Jack Johnson: "Mama You've Been on My Mind"
Mark Lanegan: "The Man in the Long Black Coat"
Bob Forrest: "Moonshiner"
Roger McGuinn and Calexico: "One More Cup of Coffee"
John Doe: "Pressing On"
Sufjan Stevens: "Ring Them Bells"
Willie Nelson and Calexico: "Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)"
Jeff Tweedy: "Simple Twist of Fate"
Cat Power: "Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again"
Mason Jennings: "The Times They Are a-Changin'"
Richie Havens: "Tombstone Blues"
Marcus Carl Franklin: "When the Ship Comes In"
The Black Keys: "Wicked Messenger"
Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova: "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere"