Sugarland’s Bush Brothers Score New Promo for Turner Classic Movies

Sugarland’s Kristian Bush and his brother, Brandon Bush, have scored and produced the music for a new on-air promo for Turner Classic Movies (TCM). The promo, a 30-second network ID that starts running today, comes as TCM celebrates its 20th year as a leading authority in classic film.

TCM approached the Bush brothers about scoring a new network ID because of the pair’s devotion to the network and to classic cinema. Brandon, a former member of the rock group Train and the current keyboardist for Sugarland, was also drawn to the TCM project because his lifelong desire to compose scores. "Working with TCM was a great opportunity to learn and bring my passion to the table," he said.

The visual elements in the new TCM network ID include iconic graphic styles from the opening credits of several classic films. The Bush brothers then created a musical accompaniment that incorporates the musical styles of those same films.

"This ID is a journey through decades of cinematic history, but it’s also a journey through decades cinematic scoring," said Brandon. "You get references to King Kong, Psycho, Dr. No and To Kill a Mockingbird. This list of movies contains some of the great movie composers. You’ve got Bernard Hermmann, Elmer Bernstein, Max Steiner and John Barry."

To record the score, the Bush brothers brought in wide variety of acoustic and electronic musicians. "One of the things I love about this project is that the musicians and engineers we’re working with are all maybe in their 30s," said Kristian. "These people are curious and interesting and innovative in their field. It’s like an entire generation of people facing forward but looking back. It just inspires me."