‘Red Dead Redemption 2’ Soundtrack Discussed By Rockstar Games

Rockstar Games' Red Dead Redemption 2 has a lot of factors going for it, including immersive open-world gameplay, a variety of missions, beautiful visuals and so much more. But one particular point fans may find easy to overlook is its music -- and there's a lot to unpack here.

Today, the publisher shared first details about the work that went into the game's soundtrack, which featured a lot of contributors. And some of them are names that you'll instantly recognize, including Willie Nelson, Nas, and D'Angelo.

In fact, D'Angelo produced an all new song for the game called "Unshaken," which was recorded by Daniel Lanois, a producer whose work includes the likes of U2, Bob Dylan and other artists. Alongside those other artists, they put together a soundtrack that truly defines the Red Dead experience. You can hear "Unshaken" in the YouTube clip below.

In fact, the publisher went into exquisite detail discussing all the talents involved with putting it together.

"Red Dead Redemption 2 features an interactive, dynamic score composed by Woody Jackson. Rockstar fans will already be familiar with Woody's work on the original Red Dead Redemption, L.A. Noire and Grand Theft Auto V with Tangerine Dream, The Alchemist and Oh No.

The score features additional production and arrangement by Jeff Silverman (Truth and Soul, Aloe Black), with additional musical score and orchestration provided by Colin Stetson (Bon Iver, Hereditary), David Ferguson (Johnny Cash's engineer), David Ralicke (Beck, Sons of Anarchy), Gabe Witcher (Punch Brothers, True Detective), Luke O'Malley, Mario Batkovic (of Geoff Barrow's Invada), Matt Sweeney (Chavez, Superwolf, Iggy Pop, Bonnie Prince Billy), Rabih Beaini and Senyawa, as well as contributions from over 110 other musicians including Arca (frequent Bjork, Kanye West, Frank Ocean and Kelela collaborator), Duane Eddy (Lee Hazlewood protégé), Jon Theodore (former drummer of Mars Volta and current Queens of the Stone Age drummer), Michael Shuman aka Mikey Shoes (Queens of the Stone Age, Mini Mansions) and more.

All of the vocal moments in Red Dead Redemption 2 are produced entirely by Grammy Award-winner Daniel Lanois, known for producing albums for Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Willie Nelson as well as collaborating with pioneering musician Brian Eno to produce several albums for U2 including the multi-platinum The Joshua Tree. In addition to Lanois' production, the soundtrack features additional vocal performances from a range of award-winning artists including D'Angelo, Willie Nelson, Nas, Rhiannon Giddens, Josh Homme, plus an additional track written, produced and performed by David Ferguson. All songs for both the score and soundtrack were created exclusively for Red Dead Redemption 2."

Rockstar Games has noted that it intends to release the soundtrack in the future, but hasn't provided a release date just yet. Fingers crossed we'll see a sweet vinyl set soon!

Red Dead Redemption 2 is available now for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Be sure to check out our review!