Musical Stars Align For Civil War Drama ‘The Gray House’ With Willie Nelson, Shania Twain, Yolanda Adams, Lainey Wilson, Killer Mike & More On The Soundtrack

Stewart Clarke
·4 min read

EXCLUSIVE: The musical stars are coming out for Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman’s The Gray House.

Leslie Greif opened the series’ playlist exclusively for Deadline and there is serious star wattage in there, including an original song performed by country music legend Willie Nelson, which closes the series. Elsewhere, Shania Twain, Killer Mike and Yolanda Adams are among those to feature, and Jon Bon Jovi co-writes one of the show’s songs.

More from Deadline

“My idea was, instead of having one [end] title song, I’m going to have eight different songs by Grammy-winning artists and in different genres of music, which are written for our show and are going to tell a story of that episode,” said Greif, who exec produces and wrote the script with Darrell Fetty, and John Sayles.

Nelson’s “Heart of America” was penned by Erin Enderlin, Jim ‘Moose’ Brown and Jeff Fahey. It closes the limited series, which counts Costner and Freeman as exec producers. The show follows a trio of unsung female heroes who are part of a spy ring attempting to turn the tide of the American Civil War in favor of the North. Mary-Louise Parker, Amethyst Davis, Daisy Head and Ben Vereen feature in an ensemble cast.

“All of these people came in, based on the trailer, the theme of the show, and wanting to be a part of something that was important,” said Greif, who co-produced several of the songs in the series. Shania Twain was evidently impressed. As part of duo with Drake Milligan she performs a song entitled “I’ll Be Here With You”.

Yolanda Adams, one of the biggest-selling gospel artists of all time and star of BET+ series Kingdom Business, sings “Love Will Rescue Me,” which closes the second episode. Lainey Wilson who was named Entertainer of the Year at this year’s Academy of Country Music Awards, has a number called “Dead End Road”.

Husband and wife duo War and Treaty perform the main title theme “Blood In The River” in the Roland Joffe-directed series, as well as an end title song “If This Day Was The Last Day”. Killer Mike gets in on the action with a number called “Spying Eyes”.

The opening episode of the series finishes with “Unholy Water” performed by Adrienne Warren. It comes from a powerhouse writing team of Jon Bon Jovi, Desmond Child and Butch Walker. Grammy Award-winning Larkin Poe get involved with a song called “The Devil’s Boat”.

Scott Stapp, who co-wrote one of the songs on the It Ends With Us soundtrack, performs “Red, White, & Blue,” which he penned with Marti Frederiksen and Desmond Child. Songwriter and Hall of Fame inductee Child has writing credits on several of the series’ songs.

The Gray House is for Paramount Global, and its distribution arm is selling it internationally. There is no news yet on its U.S. home. It is produced by Costner’s Territory Pictures, Freeman and Lori McCreary’s Revelations Entertainment and Greif’s Big Dreams Entertainment.

Check out the full playlist for The Gray House below

Song: “Blood In The River” (Title Theme)
Performed by: The War and Treaty
Written by: Erin Enderlin, James ‘Moose’ Brown, Jeff Fahey

Song: “Unholy Water” (End Title – Episode 1)
Performed by: Adrienne Warren
Written by: Jon Bon Jovi, Butch Walker, Desmond Child

Song: “Love Will Rescue Me” (End Title – Episode 2)
Performed by: Yolanda Adams
Written by: Anthony Evans, Nick Pothoven

Song: “If This Day” (End Title – Episode 3)
Performed by: The War and Treaty
Written by: Diane Warren

Song: “Red, White, & Blue” (End Title – Episode 4)
Performed by: Scott Stapp
Written by: Scott Stapp, Marti Frederiksen, Desmond Child

Song: “Dead End Road” (Featured Song – Episode 5)
Performed by: Lainey Wilson
Written by: Lainey Wilson (ASCAP), Trannie Anderson, Paul Thomas Sikes

Song: “The Devil’s Boat” (End Title – Episode 5)
Performed by: Larkin Poe
Written by: Erin Enderlin, James “Moose” Brown, Jeff Fahey, Michael Trotter Jr., Tanya Trotter

Song: “Spying Eyes” (Smiling Faces) (End Title – Episode 6)
Performed by: Killer Mike ft. Lena Byrd Miles
Written by: Barrett Strong, Norman Whitfield, Michael Render, Vidal Garcia, Cosmo Hickox, Max Perry, Robert Mandell

Song: “I’ll Be Here With You” (End Title – Episode 7)
Performed by: Shania Twain & Drake Milligan
Written by: Erin Enderlin, James “Moose” Brown, Jeff Fahey, Drake Milligan

Song: “Heart of America” (End Title – Episode 8)
Performed by: Willie Nelson
Written by: Erin Enderlin, James “Moose” Brown, Jeff Fahey

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next