Nathan Barr
Nathan Barr (born 1973; also known as Nate Barr) is an American film and television composer known for playing the majority of the instruments heard in his compositions.[1] While he is best known for scoring all seven seasons of HBO's Emmy Award-winning series, True Blood,[2] Barr has recently composed music for FX's The Americans[3] and Netflix's Hemlock Grove.[4] On July 18, 2013, Barr garnered a double Emmy nomination for "Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music" based on his work on The Americans and Hemlock Grove.[5]
Nathan Barr | |
---|---|
Nathan Barr (left) and Alan Ball working on True Blood season 2 in 2008 | |
Born | 1973 (age 46–47) |
Other names | Nate Barr |
Occupation | Composer |
Life and career
Barr started studying music in Tokyo, Japan at the age of four. His interest in music and collecting rare and unusual instruments lead him to travel all over the world. He has said he owns a trumpet made out of a human femur and a set of bagpipes out of a pig's belly. More recently, he has acquired and installed the Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe Organ from the 20th Century Fox sound stage.[6] Barr studied at Skidmore College, and in 1993 toured Italy and Switzerland with the Juilliard Cello Ensemble.
In 1996, Barr moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in composing film and television scores. One of his first jobs was working under the tutelage of world-renowned composer, Hans Zimmer, on films such as As Good as It Gets and The Prince of Egypt. Shortly thereafter, he branched out on his own and landed his first solo-venture on the Lionsgate comedy Too Smooth. Since then, Barr has scored a large array of feature films and TV series, most notably scoring all episodes of HBO's hit series True Blood.
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Director | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1998 | Hairshirt | Dean Paras | N/A |
1998 | Traveling Companion | Paula Goldberg | Short film |
1999 | Beyond the Mat | Barry W. Blaustein | N/A |
1999 | From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter | P. J. Pesce | Direct-to-video film |
2000 | The Virginian | Bill Pullman | Television film |
2000 | Red Dirt | Tag Purvis | Television film |
2001 | Venus and Mars | Harry Mastrogeorge | N/A |
2001 | Going Greek | Justin Zackham | N/A |
2001 | Big Time | Jerry Heiss | N/A |
2002 | Cabin Fever | Eli Roth | N/A |
2003 | Briar Patch | Zev Berman | N/A |
2004 | Club Dread | Jay Chandrasekhar | N/A |
2005 | 2001 Maniacs | Tim Sullivan | N/A |
2005 | The Dukes of Hazzard | Jay Chandrasekhar | N/A |
2005 | Hostel | Eli Roth | N/A |
2006 | Beerfest | Jay Chandrasekhar | N/A |
2007 | Grindhouse | Eli Roth | Thanksgiving segment |
2007 | Rise: Blood Hunter | Sebastian Gutierrez | N/A |
2007 | Watching the Detectives | Paul Soter | N/A |
2007 | Hostel: Part II | Eli Roth | N/A |
2008 | Shutter | Masayuki Ochiai | N/A |
2008 | Lost Boys: The Tribe | P. J. Pesce | N/A |
2008 | Tortured | Nolan Lebovitz | N/A |
2009 | The Slammin' Salmon | Kevin Heffernan | N/A |
2010 | Open House | Andrew Paquin | N/A |
2010 | The Last Exorcism | Daniel Stamm | N/A |
2011 | The Ledge | Matthew Chapman | N/A |
2013 | The Big Wedding | Justin Zackham | N/A |
2015 | The Boy Next Door | Rob Cohen | Composed with Randy Edelman featuring vocal by Lisbeth Scott |
2015 | Hollywood Adventures | Timothy Kendall | N/A |
2017 | Flatliners | Niels Arden Oplev | N/A |
2018 | The Domestics | Mike P. Nelson | Additional Music by Stephen Lukach |
2018 | The House with a Clock in Its Walls | Eli Roth | N/A |
2020 | The Turning | Floria Sigismondi | Additional Music by Justin Caine Burnett |
2020 | The Hunt | Craig Zobel | Additional Music By Justin Caine Burnett & Stephen Lukarch |
Television series
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
2000 | Fear | N/A |
2001 | Kate Brasher | N/A |
2008-14 | True Blood | N/A |
2013-15 | Hemlock Grove | Composed with Todd Haberman |
2013-18 | The Americans | N/A |
2014 | Tumble Leaf | N/A |
2015-17 | Sneaky Pete | Composed with Stephen Lukach |
2016 | Greenleaf | N/A |
2017 | The Son | N/A |
2019 | Fosse/Verdon | N/A |
2019 | Carnival Row | N/A |
2020 | The Great | Includes Bird on a Wire by Simone Istwa |
Awards
- 2010 BMI Award for Original Score for True Blood Season 2 (HBO) [7]
- 2009 Hollywood Media in Music Award for Best Score for True Blood (HBO)
- 2009 BMI Award for Original Score for True Blood (HBO) [8]
- 2006 BMI Award for Music for Film: The Dukes of Hazzard [9]
References
- D., Spence. "Nathan Barr - The Dukes of Hazzard Original Film Score". IGN. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
- Sobol, Gianna. "Q&A with Composer Nathan Barr". Inside True Blood Blog. Archived from the original on 29 May 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
- Staff. "Nathan Barr Scoring FX's 'The Americans'". Film Music Reporter. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
- Staff. "Hemlock Grove Set to Have Grisly Creature Effects". Fans of Horror Movies. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
- Gallo, Phil. "Emmy Noms Salute 'The Voice,' HBO Music Biopics and Composers". Billboard. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
- "Nathan Barr". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2018-09-03.
- BMI. "2010 BMI Film/TV Awards Winners". Broadcast Music Incorporated. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
- BMI. "BMI Film & Television Awards Tout Composers of Year's Top Film, Television, & Cable Music". Broadcast Music Incorporated. Retrieved 2009-09-06.
- BMI. "2006 BMI Film & Television Awards". BMI. Retrieved 2009-01-05.