Dan Haseltine, lead singer of Jars of Clay, recently completed the soundtrack for the film, "Hometown Legend," which began its run in theaters on January 25.

Haseltine, whose work has appeared in numerous films and television dramas, composed the original music for the film and produced the soundtrack that includes two Jars of Clay songs.

Based on the novel by Jerry B. Jenkins, the best-selling co-author of the Left Behind series, Hometown Legend tells the story of a small Alabama town's high school football team in the last year of the school's existence. The once-proud town hasn't been the same since a tragedy in the state football game 12 years earlier and county cutbacks are forcing the school to close. But a legendary coach, a feisty student, and a mysterious drifter help bring the team back to glory - and pride and tradition returns to the town.

"I've been a huge fan of Jars of Clay for years," said the film's producer, author Jenkins' 25-year old son Dallas, "and it's long been a dream of mine to work with Dan Haseltine on a project. The score as well as the songs he put together are even better than we had hoped for."

"It has been exciting for me to be a part of something that has such high redemptive content as well as high artistic merit since very few films have both qualities," said Haseltine about his collaboration with Jenkins Entertainment and Hometown Legend.

Meantime, JOC joins an all-star lineup on an album inspired by the Mel Gibson film We Were Soldiers. Joining Jars on the album are Dave Matthews, Johnny Cash, Michael McDonald, Mary Chapin Carpenter and others.

We Were Soldiers, coming from Paramount Pictures and Icon International, hits theatres March 1 and is based on a battle that took place November 14, 1965 in the Ia Drang Valley of Vietnam, in a small clearing called Landing Zone X-Ray where Lt. Col. Hal Moore (Mel Gibson), 400 young fathers, husbands, brothers and sons - all troopers from the U.S. 7th "Air" Cavalry - were surrounded by 2000 enemy soldiers. The ensuing battle was one of the most savage in U.S. history.

The movie is a tribute to the nobility of those men under fire, their common acts of uncommon valor and their loyalty to and love for one another. Starring alongside Gibson are Madeline Stowe (Last of the Mohicans, The General's Daughter), Sam Elliott (The Contender, Gettysburg, Tombstone), Academy Award nominee Greg Kinnear (As Good As It Gets), Chris Klein (American Pie, Election), Golden Globe winner Keri Russell (Felicity) and Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan, The Green Mile).

With all of the this, the boys will be busy as they have their first pay-per-view concert on March 3rd and the 50-city The Eleventh Hour Tour kicks off March 11th to celebrate the albums release on March 5th.

www.hometownlegend.com

*as posted to the Christian Music Mailing List