Tree Adams (Belushi)

During his all-too-brief stint on this Earth, John Belushi was one of comedy's greatest voices. A blustering buffoon one minute, a deeply intelligent trickster the next, Belushi's work on SNL, The Blues Brothers, and Animal House made him a household name in the blink of an eye -- before his life was tragically cut short by the very lifestyle that success gave him.

RJ Cutler's documentary Belushi is a stylish, straightforward chronicling of the man's life -- what drove him, the good and the bad others saw in him -- fueled chiefly by archival commentary from Belushi's widow. Another major driver, though, is the blues and funk-heavy score by Tree Adams, a BMI-Award winning composer who's scored a host of TV shows from Californication and NCIS: New Orleans to The 100.

Before he was a composer, he plied his trade as a touring musician (and still does) and brings a lot of that rock and roll energy to Belushi's score. There are the obvious Blues Brothers-fueled jams, to be sure, but the score as a whole seeks to capture Belushi's own musical background, as well as honors his funky highs and mournful lows.

I spoke with Tree about his long composing history, the connections between Belushi's score and his own blues background, the graphic novel he's got cooking, and a whole lot more.

You can find Tree Adams at his official website here.

Belushi is currently streaming on Showtime, and you can stream the original soundtrack score (released by Passion Pictures Ltd.) to the documentary on Spotify and other streaming services.