7 country songs that should have made it onto the soundtrack of “Twisters: The Album”

For country music fans in particular, “Twisters: The Album” is one of the most eagerly awaited film soundtracks in a long time.

First, let me admit that I had not seen the original Twisters I didn’t know the movie until a few weeks ago, but now that the new movie is coming out and has this amazing soundtrack, I had to watch it.

The new soundtrack features artists from the ’30s, which is crazy considering the logistical challenge of fitting so many songs into one film. And while I’m excited about the new music from some of my favorite artists (Tyler Childers, The Red Clay Strays, Tyler Halverson, and Flatland Cavalry), I notice there were a few misfires as well. Granted, the album seems to mostly feature songs originally from the film, but who’s to say they couldn’t have a few old favorites as well.

Let’s start with the obvious:

1. “Tornado Warning” – Turnpike Troubadours

The fact that Turnpike was left out of this album entirely is a huge miss, not to mention the fact that they have a song called “Tornado Warning.” The Oklahoma natives’ sound would have been a perfect fit to set the scene for the Sooner State. But “Tornado Warning” specifically paints a movie of its own.

2. “Twister” – Koe Wetzel

The name says it all. Although it is not yet released, the preview on Koe’s YouTube sounds like a perfect match. With the time frame of Koe’s album and the Twister’ Album you really wonder why this song didn’t make it onto the album.

3. “Meeting the Devil in Oklahoma” – Josh Meloy

Another man from Oklahoma whose sound is a little bit spooky in this song. The mention of the state itself fits perfectly with the other song titles. The use of the devil as a metaphor for a tornado could have been Chef’s Kiss.

4. “Close Encounters” – Treaty Oak Revival

It may not be Treaty Oak’s most popular song, but “Close Encounters” is highly underrated. The song is about seeing things you can’t explain. A damn tornado is pretty hard to comprehend, and they’re sure to have plenty of encounters with some in the film.

5. “Running” – Whiskey Myers

Honestly, this is one of my favorite Whiskey Myers songs to crank up with the windows down and imagine it playing in the background during one of (how can I imagine) many scenes where they’re running away from hurricanes at high speed.

6. “Catastrophe” – Red Clay Strays

I know Red Clay Strays is already on the soundtrack, but “Disaster” would have been too perfect. If you’ve never seen RCS live, you might not know the song, but it’s one they’ve been playing in concert for a while now, and it’s literally about disaster striking yet again.

7. “Where we belong” – Southall

By another group of Okies…that’s the song I imagine the movie ending with. It’s kind of an “I’m at peace” song. In the music video you can even see the band blowing in the wind in what I’m sure is a very similar setting to the one in the movie.

I think the album will still get a great 9.5/10, but any of these selections could have replaced some of the less than stellar choices on the soundtrack (you all know who I mean) to make it a perfect 10/10.

Fortunately, we don’t have to wait until July 19th for the full album, as some singles have already been released:

“Song While You’re Away” – Tyler Childers