The Rangers—heard almost every week on the popular FX drama Sons of Anarchy—wouldn't be out of place hanging at the Teller-Morrow clubhouse in Charming, California."
Bob Thiele Jr.[16][17] The regular band members are Davey Faragher on bass guitar, John Philip Shenale (often mentioned as Phil Shenale) on keyboards, Greg Leisz on pedal steel guitar, Matt Chamberlain on drums, and Gia Ciambotti on background vocals.
[18][19] The band also collaborates with guest performers for vocals like Alison Mosshart, Amos Lee, Joshua James, The White Buffalo,[20] Billy Valentine, Audra Mae, Justin Warfield, Battleme, Katey Sagal,[21] and others.
Because of the production's small budget for music, Bob Thiele Jr. went to independents in order to include "big-ticket copyrights".
[30] As a music supervisor, he knew how essential it is for artists and writers to get songs on TV shows for their exposure to the audience, for example The White Buffalo gained significant career traction and an Emmy nomination from his collaboration with Bob Thiele Jr. and The Forest Rangers.
"I brought Bob into the process early to really try to figure out how to create a sound for the show since I just knew that Sons Of Anarchy was a somewhat bleak world and we were going to be dealing with somewhat dark and potentially heavy subject matter.
Going back to the origins of the subculture and when and how it hit the media, what we needed to do is hit on what the sound in the subculture is–sort of that 60's California sound, which sort of became our touchstone"[32] Kurt Sutter The music created by Bob Thiele Jr. and The Forest Rangers serves the story of SoA.
Music doesn't underscores the scene but a lot of times it's leading it, forming a connection between the present and the past.
[33] The Hamlet theme of Sons of Anarchy (Clay kills "JT", John Teller, Jax's father and then marries Jax's mother, Gemma; Jax discovers the murder, is in anguish and begins his slow plotting of revenge) is underlinded by the theme song of the series which keeps reminding us that we "Got to look this life in the eye" (This Life by Curtis Stigers, Dave Kushner and Bob Thiele Jr.) because "something is rotten in the state of Denmark" (Hamlet, Shakespeare).
Three kids from The Center for Early Education sung a three-part harmony guided by their choral director Ellen who did the arrangement and helped building the haunting montage of the episode "Black Widower" by using a cover which combines rock, blues and traditional country with kids singing (Season 7, Episode 1).
Besides the regular band members (Davey Faragher/bass, John Philip Shenale/keyboards, Greg Leisz/pedal steel guitar, Matt Chamberlain/drums, Gia Ciambotti/background vocals), guest vocals included Alison Mosshart, Amos Lee, Joshua James, The White Buffalo, Billy Valentine, Audra Mae and Justin Warfield.
span a range of genres from Americana to bluesy roots rock to epic soulful ballads.
[112] The core musicians behind "The Forest Rangers" formed a band named "The Reluctant Apostles" with Katey Sagal as their lead singer.