When Bryce Dessner got a call asking to score the music for “Manhunt,” Apple TV+’s thrilling limited series about the search for John Wilkes Booth after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, it was an easy “yes” for him.
Not only did he and his brother Aaron grow up in West Virginia, they’ve also named the National songs after Civil War battlefields.
Early in the process, showrunner and creator Monica Beletsky sought Dessner out and, together, they explored ideas for how the music would sound. The seven-part limited series follows Edwin Stanton (Tobias Menzies), Lincoln’s close confidant and secretary of war,who goes on a mission to track down Booth (Anthony Boyle) after he kills Lincoln (Hamish linklater). The score needed to have edge and grit and gloom, so Dessner crafted a “dark twisted American folk music” sound.
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