Additional compositions, composed for the game's standalone expansion pack Undead Nightmare, were released on a second soundtrack in November 2010.

Music supervisor Ivan Pavlovich has cited the large scale of the game as one of the largest difficulties when producing the score.

In collaboration with each other, the duo composed over fourteen hours of music, which scores the game's missions, across fifteen months.

[1] Following the recording, Irish producer and composer David Holmes listened to the original score, and subsequently spent three weeks compiling fifteen instrumental tracks that could be used as standalone songs for the game's official soundtrack.

In appropriating the score to the game's setting, Elm commented that the process was initially "daunting", taking a long time to discover how the music was to work in an interactive way.

[4] Red Dead Redemption Original Soundtrack comprises songs from the game, composed and produced by Bill Elm and Woody Jackson.

[9] GameSpot's Justin Calvert called the soundtrack "superb",[10] and IGN's Erik Brudvig named it "exceptional" and "wonderful".

[11] Game Music Online praised the soundtrack as an individual piece, stating that it has the ability to accompany "any Hollywood film".

[5] Gideon Dabi of Original Sound Version felt divided about the soundtrack; though heaping praise, he wrote that it was "a little too slow on the draw".

[20] Gonzalez performed "Far Away" on Zane Lowe's show on BBC Radio 1 in June 2010,[21] at the Rockstar offices in New York in July 2010,[22] and at the Spike Video Game Awards in December 2010.