The Forest Rangers is a

roots rock Roots rock is a genre of rock music that looks back to rock's origins in folk, blues and country music. It is particularly associated with the creation of hybrid subgenres from the later 1960s, including blues rock, country rock, Southern rock, ...

band known through the TV series '' Sons of Anarchy''. The music they created for the TV series was nominated 3 times for Emmy Awards, while it has won 2 HMMA awards and 1 OFTA television award. shaping the series and captivating audiences from 2008 till 2014. The band was assembled and led by Bob Thiele Jr. (musician and music supervisor) and Dave Way. Bob Thiele Jr. and

Dave Kushner David Kushner (born November 16, 1966) is an American musician perhaps best known as the rhythm guitarist for the hard rock supergroup Velvet Revolver. Kushner has also been a member of Wasted Youth, Electric Love Hogs, Loaded, Danzig, Jan ...

(guitarist with

Velvet Revolver Velvet Revolver was an American hard rock supergroup consisting of Guns N' Roses members Slash (lead guitar), Duff McKagan (bass, backing vocals) and Matt Sorum (drums, backing vocals), alongside Dave Kushner (rhythm guitar) formerly of pun ...

) chose the band's name while writing the show's theme song "

This Life This may refer to: * ''This'', the singular proximal demonstrative pronoun Places * This, or ''Thinis'', an ancient city in Upper Egypt * This, Ardennes, a commune in France People with the surname * Hervé This, French culinary chemist Arts, e ...

" inspired by a Plexi's song named "Forest Ranger". The Forest Rangers went on creating a sound that is consistent with the environment these characters live and breathe in, ''The Sound of Charming''. While the Mayans M.C. listen to Latino music, we never hear anything but rock and

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

playing in the Charming clubhouse. "If there was a house band playing at the Sons of Anarchy's clubhouse every Friday night, the Forest Rangers would be the band. The Rangers—heard almost every week on the popular FX drama Sons of Anarchy—wouldn't be out of place hanging at the Teller-Morrow clubhouse in Charming, California."

Bob Thiele Jr Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals * Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname ...

. The regular band members are Davey Faragher on bass guitar,

John Philip Shenale John Philip Shenale (often mentioned as Phil Shenale) is a Canadian composer, arranger, musician and producer based in Los Angeles. Background Shenale was born in Canada in 1951. His family relocated to the United States in the late-1950s ...

(often mentioned as Phil Shenale) on keyboards,

Greg Leisz Gregory Brian Leisz ( ; born September 18, 1949) is an American musician. He is a songwriter, recording artist, and producer. He plays guitar, dobro, mandolin, lap steel and pedal steel guitar. Biography Leisz grew up in the garage band cultu ...

on pedal steel guitar,

Matt Chamberlain Matthew Chamberlain (born April 17, 1967) is an American session musician, drummer, producer and songwriter. Biography Life and career Chamberlain was born in San Pedro, California on April 17, 1967. He began learning how to play the drums ...

on drums and Gia Ciambotti on background vocals. The band also collaborates with guest performers for vocals like

Alison Mosshart Alison Nicole Mosshart (born November 23, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, artist, and the lead vocalist for the rock bands The Kills and The Dead Weather. She started her musical career in 1995 with the Florida punk rock band Dis ...

Amos Lee Amos Lee (born Ryan Anthony Massaro, June 20, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter whose musical style encompasses folk, rock, and soul. He was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the University of South Carolina with a degree in Engli ...

, Joshua James,

The White Buffalo ''The White Buffalo'' is a 1977 fantasy Western film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Charles Bronson, Kim Novak, Jack Warden, Slim Pickens and Will Sampson. Plot Wild Bill Hickok is haunted by his dreams of a giant white buffal ...

, Billy Valentine,

Audra Mae Audra Mae (born February 20, 1984) is an American singer and songwriter from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She is the great-great-niece of Judy Garland, and a great granddaughter of Garland's sister Jimmie. Since arriving in California in 2007, she has ...

, Justin Warfield, Battleme,

Katey Sagal Catherine Louise "Katey" Sagal (; born January 19, 1954) is an American actress and singer. She is known for playing Peggy Bundy on '' Married... with Children'' (1987–1997), Leela on ''Futurama'' (1999–2003, 2008–2013, 2023), Cate Hennes ...

and others.

Sonic style

'' Sons of Anarchy'' redefined how a TV series utilizes music as a powerful narrative element since music plays the role of a character. The soundtrack fits so well because the songs feel exactly what the characters themselves would choose to listen to. Following

Kurt Sutter Kurt Leon Sutter (born May 5, 1960) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and actor. He worked as a producer, writer, and director on ''The Shield,'' and appeared on the show as hitman Margos Dezerian. Sutter is also the creator of ...

's vision, Thiele Jr. shaped the serie's unique music style which consists of a jambalaya of original music and covers from established artists but mostly from indie artists and bands. A lot of the music from the show comes from not just biker bands that existed around the time the MCs became an iconic American entity but also blues bands. Because of production's small budget on music, Bob Thiele Jr. had to go to independents in order to include "big-ticket copyrights". As a music supervisor, he knew how essential it is for artists and writers to get songs on TV shows for their exposure to the audience e.g.

gained significant career traction and an Emmy nomination from his collaboration with Bob Thiele Jr. and The Forest Rangers. Haunting covers of well known songs by voices you couldn't recognize when they first aired compliment the hero's tragic journey along with original songs and enhance the audience's emotional journey to catharsis. "I brought Bob into the process early to really try to figure out how to create a sound for the show since I just knew that Sons Of Anarchy was a somewhat bleak world and we were going to be dealing with somewhat dark and potentially heavy subject matter. It was really Bob’s idea to create a unique sound for the show. Going back to the origins of the subculture and when and how it hit the media, what we needed to do is hit on what the sound in the subculture is – sort of that 60’s California sound, which sort of became our touchstone"

The music created by

. and The Forest Rangers serves the story of SoA. Music doesn't underscores the scene but a lot of times it's leading it, forming a connection between the present and the past. The

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

theme of Sons of Anarchy (

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

kills "JT", John Teller, Jax's father and then marries Jax's mother, Gemma; Jax discovers the murder, is in anguish and begins his slow plotting of revenge) is underlinded by the theme song of the series which keeps reminding us that we "Got to look this life in the eye" (

Curtis Stigers Curtis Stigers (born October 18, 1965) is an American jazz singer. He achieved a number of hits in the early 1990s, most notably the international hit " I Wonder Why" (1991), which reached No. 5 in the UK and No. 9 in the US. Career S ...

and Bob Thiele Jr.) because "something is rotten in the state of Denmark" (Hamlet,

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

). "By the end of season one, it was like, 'Okay, we can really use music as a way to tell our story,' Music is a character on the show. Music is just one more aspect of storytelling. If I sat down and listened to all of the major montages, I'd probably leave five or six out because we do so many of them." Bob Thiele Jr. While all songs server their purpose the montage set to a cover of

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

's "

Bohemian Rhapsody "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth album, '' A Night at the Opera'' (1975). Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, the song is a six-minute suite, notable for its lack o ...

" stands out for taking chances on a well known song. Bob Thiele Jr. started with a voice and an accoustic guitar but later a question was posed: "What if it's little kids singing it?" Three kids from The Center for Early Education sung a three-part harmony guided by their choral director Ellen who did the arrangement and helped building the haunting montage of the episode "Black Widower" by using a cover which combines rock, blues and traditional country with kids singing (

Season 7 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

, Episode 1).

Discography

The Forest Rangers are mostly known for their covers of well known songs and their original songs for the soundtrack of the FX TV series '' Sons of Anarchy''. Thanks to people's warm response they went on releasing their songs as EPs, studio albums and singles. "The music, to a larger extent, had to come from a similar place than the characters, that there was an authenticity, a rawness... that you got a sense of authenticity from the characters and the music had to match that. That's why music resonates on so many levels, across age groups. It's something that people can go into and say "Wow, this is authentic." Bob Thiele Jr. The Forest Rangers released 4 volumes of songs as soundtrack albums ('' Songs of Anarchy: Music from Sons of Anarchy Seasons 1–4'', '' Sons of Anarchy: Songs of Anarchy Vol. 2'', '' Sons of Anarchy: Songs of Anarchy Vol. 3'', '' Sons of Anarchy: Songs of Anarchy Vol. 4'' ), 3 EPs (The first five-song EP, entitled ''Sons of Anarchy: North Country – EP'', was released on September 8, 2009, and featured the full version of the Emmy Award nominated theme song "

". A second five-song EP, entitled ''Sons of Anarchy: Shelter – EP'', was released on November 24, 2009, while a third six-song EP, entitled ''Sons of Anarchy: The King is Gone - EP'', was released on November 23, 2010) and numerous singles. The band released its debut album, ''Land Ho!'' (2015) after launching a successful

PledgeMusic PledgeMusic was an online direct-to-fan music platform, launched in August 2009. It was started to facilitate musicians looking to pre-sell, market, and distribute projects; such as recordings and concerts. It bore similarities to other artist p ...

campaign for its recording. The album is co-produced by Bob Thiele Jr. and producer/engineer

Dave Way Dave Way is an American producer, mixer and audio engineer based in Los Angeles, California, United States. He has worked with Fiona Apple, Sheryl Crow, Kesha, Pink, Christina Aguilera, Macy Gray, Ringo Starr, Shakira, Phoebe Bridgers, John Doe, Sa ...

. Besides the regular band members (

Davey Faragher David Allen "Davey" Faragher (born August 18, 1957) is an American bass guitarist from Redlands, California. Faragher's career took off and received critical notice as a founding member of the nineties band Cracker, and his subsequent work with ...

/bass,

/Keyboards,

/pedal steel guitar,

/drums, Gia Ciambotti/background vocals), guest vocals included

, Joshua James,

, Billy Valentine,

and

Justin Warfield Justin Evan Warfield (born April 20, 1973) is an American musician and hip hop MC. He is the lead vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist of the darkwave duo She Wants Revenge, which formed in 2004. In 1993, he released a hip-hop album titled '' My ...

. The 11 songs on ''Land Ho!'' span a range of genres from Americana to bluesy roots rock to epic soulful ballads. In 2018, The Forest Rangers contributed to the '' Mayans M.C.'' soundtrack with the song "Black is Black".

Songs from ''Sons of Anarchy'' episodes

Albums

EPs

Singles

Music videos

* "Trying to Believe" (2015) is from Bob Thiele Jr. and The Forest Rangers' album ''Land Ho!''. It was shot in Los Angeles by director Kenneth Cappelo and features '' Sons of Anarchy'' cast members Mark Boone, Jr. ( Bobby Munson),

Niko Nicotera Niko Nicotera is a German-born American actor best known for playing George "Ratboy" Skogstrom in the television series ''Sons of Anarchy'' (2011–2014). Early life and education Niko was born in Giessen, Germany, on an American military base, a ...

(Ratboy),

Dayton Callie Dayton Callie (born 1946) is an American actor, best known for playing Charlie Utter on HBO's '' Deadwood'', former Police Chief Wayne Unser on '' Sons of Anarchy'', and Jeremiah Otto on AMC's '' Fear the Walking Dead''. He has also voiced ...

( Wayne Unser),

Michael Ornstein Michael Marisi Ornstein (born 1963) is an American actor. He is best known for his recurring role as Chucky Marstein on Sons of Anarchy 2008–2014) and its spin-off '' Mayans M.C. (2019-present). Early life Ornstein studied acting as a child ...

(Chucky) alongside Bob Thiele, Jr. and

. * "I'm Alive" (2015). Lyric video directed by Shelby Duncan.

Tours

In 2013 The Forest Rangers launched their first music tour with Katey Sagal. The live show featured several of the SOA songs among others and in addition to the musical aspect of the touring show, it included a moderated panel conversation with Sagal ( Gemma) and cast memebers

Theo Rossi John Theodore Rossi (born June 4, 1975) is an American actor and producer. He portrayed Juan Carlos "Juice" Ortiz on the FX series ''Sons of Anarchy'' (2008–2014) and Hernan "Shades" Alvarez in ''Luke Cage'' (2016–2018). His film roles i ...

(

Juice Juice is a drink made from the extraction or pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat or seafood, such as ...

) and

Ryan Hurst Ryan Douglas Hurst (born June 19, 1976) is an American actor, known for his roles as Gerry Bertier in ''Remember the Titans'' (2000), Sgt. Ernie Savage in ''We Were Soldiers'' (2002), Tom Clarke in '' Taken'' (2002), Opie Winston in the FX dram ...

( Opie). The band went on touring in 2014 with only a handful of appearances because of Sons of Anarchy's filming. The core musicians behind "The Forest Rangers" formed a band named "The Reluctant Apostles" with

as their lead singer.

Trivia

In 2015 The Forest Rangers released "Come Join The Murder" with John Doe. They donated their profit to the Pablove Foundation honiring Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

.'s father,

Bob Thiele Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals * Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname ...

co-wrote the song

What a wonderful world "What a Wonderful World" is a song written by Bob Thiele (as "George Douglas") and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released in 1967 as a single. It topped the pop chart in the United Kingdom, but performed poor ...

which became a well known song after it appeared on Good Morning Vietnam. The song appeared at

Season 4 Season 4 may refer to: * "Season 4" (''30 Rock'' episode), an episode of ''30 Rock'' See also * * Season One (disambiguation) * Season 2 (disambiguation) Season 2 may refer to: * ''Season 2'' (Infinite album) * '' 2econd Season'' See also * ...

, Episode 1. Out for a montage that showed 10 murders along with a cover of the song by The Forest Rangers and

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Forest Rangers Sons of Anarchy American rock music groups Roots rock music groups Musical groups with year of establishment missing