From KCRW DJ Gary Calamar:

How did Iggy Pop and Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino come to collaborate on a track for HBO’s True Blood?

Well, it’s a bit of a long story so read it below and check out the track “Let’s Boot and Rally“, written by me (!) and James Combs. It will air on the episode of True Blood airing this Sunday, July 8. (available on iTunes now)

Stream “Let’s Boot and Rally”

I am the luckiest guy in the world to work as music supervisor on HBO’s True Blood.

Alan Ball has created this creepy sexy, fun world and I get to add songs to it. For the most part I am picking existing songs, and sometimes I commission a new song from an artist…but in this case I co-wrote the song….and Iggy Pop and Bethany Cosentino are singing it. CRAZY !

Each episode is named after a song that is used in that show. We had a situation where we had an episode called “Boot and Rally” but we really didn’t have a song that was True Bloody enough to use. What to do. Should we change the title of the episode ?

I suggested that maybe we can have someone write a new song called “Boot and Rally“…..Everyone agreed to give it a try and I started brainstorming.

Now, I have always been a weekend songwriter. I can bang out a handful of chords and I must say I’ve written a few stone classics over the years….in my mind anyway. Back at my office I break out my trusty rhyming dictionary and I start thumbing through it….mmm, one thing leads to another and I started getting, how you say, inspired. At this point I called my very talented friend and brilliant songwriter, James Combs and asked him to collaborate. We got down to business and came up with a song “Let’s Boot and Rally“. As many songwriters say, “the song just wrote itself”, “I was just a vessel”. That’s what happened, kinda.

Meanwhile, to backtrack a little….Iggy Pop, or should I say Iggy’s people, had reached out to me saying he was a True Blood fan and if any opportunities come up, to please keep Iggy in mind. What ? Music to my ears. We sent Iggy the demo of “LB&R”. He loved it and said sign me up.

So, as I was listening to my favorite song this summer, “The Only Place” by Best Coast, and I thought maybe Bethany might like to join in the fun of “Let’s Boot and Rally”. Nah, she’s too busy with her fabulous new album her great fashion line and being the cover girl for all the hip mags. What the heck (I don’t talk dirty) I said. Why not give her a call. “Hullo Bethany” ….She dug the song the most and jumped at the chance to sing with Mr. Pop.

The rest, as they say, might be history….

Gary Calamar