ELVIS DOC GETS A SOUNDTRACK, OR THREE

Sony’s Legacy Recordings and RCA will release the companion soundtrack to the two-part documentary Elvis Presley: The Searcher on 4/6, a week before the Thom Zimny film airs on HBO.

As usual, there are multiple editions: an 18-track soundtrack; a 2 two-LP vinyl edition and a three-CD deluxe box set.

The deluxe set includes 37 additional Elvis cuts plus a disc featuring selections from Mike McCready's score for Elvis Presley: The Searcher; Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performing "Wooden Heart"; and the music that inspired The King.

Zimny, who has directed the Bruce Springsteen docs that have appeared in his box sets, writes in the liner notes, "the soundtrack was in my mind from the beginning. I wasn't just making a film, I was thinking about the collection of recordings I would gather for a person who saw the film, who wanted to complete the experience, just as I always had. ... To me, this collection is part of the film."

Among the selections not found in most Presley collections are “Tomorrow is a Long Time,” “Milky White Way,” “Fool, Fool, Fool” and the round of “Love Me Tender” and “Witchcraft” with Frank Sinatra.

The film will receive a screening at SXSW in March along with a panel discussion featuring Priscilla Presley, music producer David Porter, Zimny, Searcher producer Jon Landau and Sony Music SVP, A&R, John Jackson.

Elvis Presley: The Searcher makes its HBO debut on 4/14.