Music
Resources: Articles & interviews ⋅ Talks ⋅ Podcasts ⋅ Publications & books ⋅ Newsletter ⋅ Postcards ⋅ Patreon
Materials: Achievements ⋅ Ephemera ⋅ Wrongles ⋅ Phone numbers ⋅ Debug mode ⋅ Fonts ⋅ Music
The music of Kentucky Route Zero consists of an ambient soundtrack composed by Ben Babbitt with bluegrass tracks performed by The Bedquilt Ramblers. Each of the game's acts saw a corresponding album release on Ben's Bandcamp, along with the remastered full-game soundtrack, a one-song The Entertainment soundtrack, and a single from a forthcoming album by Junebug.
Inspirations for the score include Hedia, Oneohtrix Point Never, Bill Monroe, Raymond Scott, Olivier Messiaen, and GAS.
Players who have purchased the game are able to access the audio files for the Acts I–V in the game's installation folder.
Physical copies of a vinyl version of the soundtrack can be pre-ordered at the iam8bit website.
Contents
Original Soundtrack
| Kentucky Route Zero Original Soundtrack |
|---|
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Stars Drop Away" | 4:31 |
| 2. | "Ghosts In the Static" | 3:27 |
| 3. | "You've Got To Walk" (by The Bedquilt Ramblers) | 2:20 |
| 4. | "Bureau of Reclaimed Spaces" | 4:24 |
| 5. | "Julian" | 4:52 |
| 6. | "Long Journey Home (Solo)" (by The Bedquilt Ramblers) | 3:17 |
| 7. | "Nameless Interiors" | 2:04 |
| 8. | "Hall of the Mountain King" | 3:42 |
| 9. | "Xanadu" | 2:44 |
| 10. | "Weird Vector" | 3:07 |
| 11. | "Too Late To Love You" (by Junebug) | 5:57 |
| 12. | "What Would You Give" (by The Bedquilt Ramblers) | 3:27 |
| 13. | "Hold Music" | 4:24 |
| 14. | "Dark Rum Noir" | 1:57 |
| 15. | "My Light Heaven" | 3:49 |
| 16. | "Riverworld" | 4:19 |
| 17. | "Echo River Central Exchange" | 4:24 |
| 18. | "Angel Wings" | 5:52 |
| 19. | "This World Is Not My Home" (by The Bedquilt Ramblers) | 3:27 |
| 20. | "Un Pueblo De Nada" | 2:59 |
| 21. | "To Love A Red Moon" | 3:20 |
| 22. | "The Arrival" | 1:36 |
| 23. | "The Library" | 2:15 |
| 24. | "5 Dogwood Drive" | 4:01 |
| 25. | "I'm Going That Way ft. Emily Cross" | 3:09 |
| 26. | "The Clearing" | 3:18 |
Released January 28, 2020. Music by Ben Babbitt. Mastered by Theo Karon at Hotel Earth in Los Angeles, CA.
Listen to this album here.
Act I
| Kentucky Route Zero, Act I |
|---|
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Stars Drop Away" | 4:31 |
| 2. | "Ghosts in the Static" | 3:27 |
| 3. | "You've Got to Walk" (by The Bedquilt Ramblers) | 2:20 |
| 4. | "Animal Bones" | 2:29 |
Released January 27, 2013. Written and produced by Ben Babbitt, and mastered by Theo Karen. An old version was produced, recorded, and mixed by Ben Babbitt and mastered by Jake Elliott.
"You've Got to Walk" features vocals by Emily Cross, with Bob Buckstaff on upright bass.
Listen to selected tracks from this album here.
Act II
| Kentucky Route Zero, Act II |
|---|
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Nameless Interiors" | 2:04 |
| 2. | "Bureau of Reclaimed Spaces" | 4:24 |
| 3. | "The Zero" | 3:33 |
| 4. | "Work and Need" | 4:10 |
| 5. | "Long Journey Home (Solo)" (by The Bedquilt Ramblers) | 3:17 |
| 6. | "Julian" | 4:54 |
| 7. | "Long Journey Home (Ensemble)" (by The Bedquilt Ramblers) | 1:58 |
Released June 14, 2013. Written and produced by Ben Babbitt and mastered by Theo Karon. An old version was produced, recorded, and mixed by Ben Babbitt and mastered by Jake Elliott.
"Bureau of Reclaimed Spaces" was recorded by Ben Babbitt and Andy Spillman at Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Highland Park, IL. "Long Journey Home" features vocals by Emily Cross, with Bob Buckstaff on double bass.
Listen to selected tracks from this album here.
Act III
| Kentucky Route Zero, Act III |
|---|
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Xanadu" | 2:44 |
| 2. | "Weird Vector" | 3:07 |
| 3. | "Hall of the Mountain King" | 3:42 |
| 4. | "Too Late to Love You" | 5:57 |
| 5. | "What Would You Give" (by The Bedquilt Ramblers) | 3:27 |
Released May 6, 2014. Written and produced by Ben Babbitt and mastered by Theo Karon. An old version was produced, recorded, and mixed by Ben Babbitt.
"Too Late To Love You" features lyrics by Jake Elliott. "What Would You Give" features vocals by Emily Cross, with Bob Buckstaff on upright bass.
Listen to this album here.
Act IV
| Kentucky Route Zero, Act IV |
|---|
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Dark Rum Noir" | 1:57 |
| 2. | "My Light Heaven" | 3:49 |
| 3. | "Glowing Arms" | 3:31 |
| 4. | "Riverworld" | 4:19 |
| 5. | "Angel Wings" | 5:52 |
| 6. | "Echo River Central Exchange" | 4:24 |
| 7. | "This World Is Not My Home" (by The Bedquilt Ramblers) | 3:27 |
| 8. | "Music for Rivers" | 3:05 |
Released August 5, 2016. Produced by Ben Babbitt and mastered by Theo Karon. An old version was produced, recorded, and mixed by Ben Babbitt and mastered by Theo Karon.
"Dark Rum Noir", "My Light Heaven", "Glowing Arms", and "This World Is Not My Home" mixed by Theo Karon. Album artwork by Tamas Kemenczy.
Listen to this album here.
Act V
| Kentucky Route Zero, Act V |
|---|
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Arrival" | 1:40 |
| 2. | "The Library" | 2:15 |
| 3. | "5 Dogwood Drive" | 4:01 |
| 4. | "I'm Going That Way ft. Emily Cross" | 3:09 |
| 5. | "The Clearing" | 3:18 |
Released January 28, 2020. Written and produced by Ben Babbitt. Mastered by Theo Karon at Hotel Earth in Los Angeles, CA.
"I'm Going That Way ft. Emily Cross" performed by Emily Cross, Ben Babbitt, Nikole Beckwith, Alex Rose, Walt McClements, Alina Cutrono, Anna Ialeggio, Theo Karon, and Thomas Carroll.
Listen to this album here.
The Entertainment
| The Entertainment Soundtrack |
|---|
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Letter Full of Promises" (feat. Juanita Rogers) | 3:28 |
Released November 26, 2013.
Listen to this album here.
Junebug
| Junebug |
|---|
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Intro" | 1:12 |
| 2. | "Static Between Stations" | 3:07 |
| 3. | "Poison Dream" | 3:37 |
| 4. | "Lighter Than It Feels" | 3:12 |
| 5. | "Too Late To Love You" | 5:56 |
| 6. | "Interlude" | 1:38 |
| 7. | "Out Here" | 4:37 |
| 8. | "Deeply In Mind" | 4:35 |
| 9. | "Sky Remains" | 3:18 |
| 10. | "Next Time" | 3:21 |
| 11. | "Night Surrounds Us" | 5:02 |
Not yet released. "Static Between Stations" was released August 23, 2016.
This track from Junebug's upcoming self-titled album was previously available to listen to here (archived copy). A music video for this song is viewable here.
The music video for "Static Between Stations" is directed by Rebecca Rau and Alex Tyson, and stars Mireya Lucio, Theo Karon, and Ben Babbitt. Makeup is by Alina Cutrono with costumes by Anna Leocha and Alina Cutrono. Special thanks to Tim Horner.
Other tracks
A recording of "This World Is Not My Home" performed by The Bedquilt Ramblers was released in the August 2011 newsletter and is available to listen to here (mirror). This song was eventually re-recorded in a more somber tone for Act IV of the game. The game's Kickstarter trailer features a version of this song sung by Bill Monroe.
An electronic version of "This World Is Not My Home" by Ben Babbitt is available on SoundCloud here.
A version of "What Would You Give" by the Bedquilt Ramblers, with an extended intro and outro, is available to listen to here.
An ambient version of "What Would You Give," created by Ben Babbitt during the development of Act I, is available to listen to here.
