Rhiannon Giddens and Daniel Lanois Release Tracks from 'The Music of Red Dead Redemption 2: Original Soundtrack'

Today, contemporary folk luminary Rhiannon Giddens and 11-time Grammy Award-winning acclaimed songwriter and producer Daniel Lanois, alongside his band Heavy Sun, have released newly reimagined tracks from The Music of Red Dead Redemption 2: Original Soundtrack as Amazon Originals. Giddens performs an austere banjo-accompanied version of the ballad "Cruel World," while Daniel Lanois turns in a soulful and shimmering rendition of his song "That's The Way It Is." The tracks are now available to stream only on Amazon Music and in Ultra HD on Amazon Music HD.

Created by Rockstar Games and released in 2018, Red Dead Redemption 2 has sold over 25M copies and is a prequel to the 2010 hit open-world Western video game, Red Dead Redemption. Red Dead Redemption 2 is the highest rated game of the console generation with over 250 perfect scores and over 175 Game of the Year Awards. Alongside the original score composed by Woody Jackson, the soundtrack has won the "Best Score/Music" award at The Game Awards 2018, "Best Soundtrack" from Game Informer's Action Game Awards, and "Best Video Game Music" award at IGN's Best of 2018 Awards. The Soundtrack also features contributions from Willie Nelson, D'Angelo, and Josh Homme.

Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens recently released her acclaimed album There Is No Other. Giddens notes, "I absolutely loved getting a chance to record this song - Arthur's heartbreaking story has touched so many in the gaming world and this tune really represents so much of what the Rockstar team has put into Red Dead Redemption 2."

Daniel Lanois has produced Grammy-winning albums for Bob Dylan and U2, and worked with others such as Emmylou Harris, Brian Eno, and Peter Gabriel. He produced the official soundtrack for Red Dead Redemption 2 and wrote several songs for the album as well. Lanois writes that "That's The Way It Is" "...is a soulful, emotional song about the acceptance and surrender at the core of Arthur Morgan's journey, co-written by my friend Rocco DeLuca and I. The song plays at a pivotal moment in the game as Arthur comes to a powerful realization about the choices that he's made in the past and his path forward from that point on."

Launched earlier this month, Amazon Music HD provides customers with the best quality recording available for streaming, with more than 50 million songs in High Definition, and millions of songs in Ultra HD, the highest quality streaming audio available. Both "Cruel World" and "That's The Way It Is" are available in Ultra HD, (better than CD quality), with a bit depth of 24 bits and a sample rate of 96 kHz.

Customers can also simply ask, "Alexa play the Amazon Original by Rhiannon Giddens" or "Alexa play the Amazon Original by Daniel Lanois" in the Amazon Music app for iOS and Android and on Alexa-enabled devices. In addition to the new tracks, Amazon Music listeners can access hundreds of Amazon Originals featuring both emerging and established artists across numerous genres, available to stream and purchase only on Amazon Music and Amazon Music HD.