Robert Altman, who directed the country-music epic Nashville and other music-themed films like A Prairie Home Companion and Kansas City, passed away Monday night at age 81. Nashville is a much-beloved DVD around the Idolator flophouse, and this song-by-song breakdown of the music on the film’s soundtrack–made up of many songs that had actor-penned lyrics–is an excellent look at part of why the movie is so top-to-bottom great. Alas, we don’t own the soundtrack, so, if anyone has a high-quality MP3 of any of its songs–particularly Keith Carradine’s “I’m Easy”–we’d be thrilled if you could e-mail them to tips[at]idolator.com.

Nashville Sounds [The High Hat]
Director Robert Altman dead at age 81 [Reuters]