The Hottest State To Feature Emmylou, Norah, Willie Nelson, Cat Power, Bright Eyes, Feist, More...

[Above: Jesse Harris]

One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn't belong. Can you tell which thing is not like the others? By the time we finish this, uh, paragraph? Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones, Cat Power, Bright Eyes, Jesse Harris, Feist, M. Ward, Hall and Oates, Brad Mehldau and The Black Keys. You have 30 seconds, so choose wisely.

All right, pencils down.

If you picked "Hall and Oates," then you answered correctly. But what do the other musicians have in common? All of them and a few others are featured in Ethan Hawke's latest film, The Hottest State. The soundtrack comes out via mysterious Sony imprint Hickory Records on August 7.

Jesse Harris wrote all the music for the film and co-executive produced the soundtrack with Hawke. Forming like Voltron, the pair handpicked the rather stellar musical cast that would cover his songs. Harris, who has been a friend of Hawke's since the early '90s, has released half a dozen albums as a solo artist, and is no stranger to other people playing his music. In fact, a certain famous songwriter on a certain soundtrack to a certain Ethan Hawke film took a song of his called "Don't Know Why" all the way to Hitsville in 2003. Harris won a Song of the Year Grammy for that one.

The Hottest State, which hits theaters August 24 via THINKFilm, is adapted from Hawke's novel of the same name. Starring (open up IMDB in another window, y'all!) Mark Webber (Broken Flowers), Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace), Laura Linney (Mystic River, The Squid and the Whale), Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain), Sonia Braga (Kiss of the Spider Woman), Hawke and Harris (who plays a small part), the film is described as a "bittersweet romance that distills the joy, pain, erotic highs, and emotional lows of first love." Nothing like getting high and erotic. Or, something.

Track listing for The Hottest State:
1. Rocha - "Ya No Te Veria Mas (Never See You)"
2. Willie Nelson - "Always Seem to Get Things Wrong"
3. Feist - "Somewhere Down the Road"
4. Bright Eyes - "Big Old House"
5. Emmylou Harris - "The Speed of Sound"
6. Jesse Harris - "It Will Stay With Us"
7. The Black Keys - "If You Ever Slip"
8. M. Ward - "Crooked Lines"
9. Norah Jones - "World of Trouble"
10. Brad Mehldau - "Never See You"
11. Cat Power - "It's Alright to Fail"
12. Jesse Harris - "One Day the Dam Will Break"
13. Tony Scherr - "You, the Queen"
14. "Morning in a Strange City (Cafe)"
15. Rocha - "No More"
16. Jesse Harris - "Dear Dorothy"
17. Rocha - "Never See You"
18. "There Are No Second Chances"

Related links: Jesse Harris' official website
The Hottest State: A Novel by Ethan Hawke
Norah Jones: Ready for her close up (Issue 29 cover story)