Letter: Country sounds

Sir: Tim Perry, in his article on the increasing use of country music in movie soundtracks ("From Nashville to Hollywood with a bullet", 28 August), must have in mind a different version of The Apostle than the one screened at my local cinema.

Yes, the "soundtrack" album does contain tracks by Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris and The Carter Family but they do not figure anywhere on the actual soundtrack - nor do Lyle Lovett, Wynonna, Patty Loveless, Lari White, Russ Taff and most of the others featured on the CD. The secret lies in the small print, "Music from and inspired by the motion picture", with the emphasis on the words "inspired by".

This cynical marketing ploy is becoming quite widespread and has also been used on the so-called "soundtrack" album of The Horse Whisperer. In this case, admittedly, a higher proportion of the album tracks do end up on the movie soundtrack, but the tie-up between Nashville and Hollywood does seem very questionable.

JIM MARSHALL

Brighton