PARK CITY, Utah – Keegan DeWitt is having a busy week. He wrote/co-wrote two Sundance film scores, for “Land Ho!” and “Listen Up Philip”; his band Wild Cub released its Mom + Pop Records debut “Youth” today; and they’re performing on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” to celebrate. The Nashville-based writer and composer is hitting up spots like the KCRW lounge and the BMI songwriters’ roundtable to discuss his work throughout the week in Park City for the Film Festival.
We caught up yesterday (Jan. 20), touching on his transition from performing under his own name to playing as a band project. I liked DeWitt’s approach to this idea of stripping songs of a face, of a first and last name and a preconception of “white guys with guitars” that overrun his adoptive home base.
He also went into detail on his new scores, like for “Land Ho!”: “… As though it was a late 1980s movie being scored by a top 40 band.”
Sundance is a return for DeWitt, who helmed the sounds for last year’s selections “Life According to Sam” and “This Is Martin Bonner.” He also scored the Oscar Award-winning short documentary “Inocente” (2013). Successful formula he suggests to composers in the field is to go to festivals, see a lot of movies, stay for the Q&A, talk to the filmmakers and “make friends.”
Check out our full interview above.