[3] To help pay off the debt accrued while making the movie, Yoakam hired a cheaper backing band in 2002, which resulted in a falling out with his longtime producer, bandleader, and guitarist Pete Anderson.

If you write, direct, produce, act, tap dance, costume – man, every finger's going to point at you if it's not successful.”[5] Likely inspired by Quentin Tarantino’s habit of inserting snippets from his films between cuts, Yoakam chose to do the same here.

"[7] The soundtrack is anchored by four gospel songs, including a contemporary take on the hymn "Who at the Door Is Standing" (a duet with Bekka Bramlett), the traditional "The Darkest Hour," the Yoakam-original "The Last Surrender," and "It Is Well with my Soul," which Yoakam sings with only piano accompaniment.

In his book A Thousand Miles from Nowhere, biographer Don McCleese writes, "Rarely had Dwight illuminated the religious underpinnings of his music as brightly as he did on 'Who at My Door Is Standing' and 'The Darkest Hour.

'"[8] He also enlisted two famous rock legends as songwriting collaborators: ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons on the bluesy "The First thing Smokin'" and Rolling Stone Mick Jagger for the stone-country lament "What’s Left of Me."