'The Hottest State' soundtrack features sixteen songs, plus two score passages, all recorded exclusively for the film. Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Jesse Harris wrote all the music for the soundtrack and serves as the album’s co-executive producer along with Hawke. Together they assembled a peerless group of artists to record Harris’ songs: Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones, Cat Power, Bright Eyes, Feist, The Black Keys, M. Ward, Brad Mehldau, Tony Scherr and Argentinean newcomer, Rocha. Jesse Harris recorded three songs for the soundtrack himself and also has a small role in the film. The soundtrack will be released through Hickory Records.

“From our first conversation, I was overwhelmed by the quality of Jesse's songwriting and how perfectly matched it was to my aspirations for the tone and mood of the film,” recalls Ethan Hawke. He continues, “An idea began to develop: What if we scored the film entirely with original songs written by Jesse and performed by contemporary artists hand-picked to match certain scenes? To my mind this would give the entire film a continuity of authorship while still providing massive shifts in energy.”

Harris, who has known Hawke since the early 1990s, has released six albums as a solo artist. His songs have been recorded by Madeleine Peyroux, Pat Metheny, and Lizz Wright, and in 2003, he won a Song of the Year Grammy, for writing Norah Jones' smash hit “Don't Know Why.”

Adapted by Ethan Hawke from his novel of the same name, 'The Hottest State' is a bittersweet romance that distills the joy, pain, erotic highs, and emotional lows of first love. Hawke directs and co-stars in the film along with Mark Webber (`Broken Flowers'); Oscar-nominees Catalina Sandino Moreno (`Maria Full Of Grace'), Laura Linney (`Mystic River,' `The Squid and the Whale'), and Michelle Williams (`Brokeback Mountain'); and Sonia Braga (`Kiss Of The Spider Woman').