Charlie Jefferson

Charlie is a composer and musician based in the UK. His emotive music often combines his finger picked and bowed folk instruments with minimal electronica and melodic orchestration.

Recent film & tv scores include the Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman adventure series ‘Long Way Home’ (Apple TV), Oscars 2024 contender 'Holy Cowboys', ‘The Kingdom: The World's Most Powerful Prince' (BBC), Tribeca Film Festival winning feature 'Scheme Birds' described by filmmaker and producer Lena Dunham as being “one of the most profoundly skilful, empathetic and moving films of the year” and BAFTA winning feature ‘Killing Escobar.’

Other credits include the BAFTA-winning Mortimer & Whitehouse Gone Fishing, Yellowstone, HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Leonardo DiCaprio produced docudrama Theodore Roosevelt and HBO comedy Miracle Workers starring Steve Buscemi and Daniel Radcliffe.

With a background as a multi-instrumentalist music producer, he has also collaborated with international musicians on live scores for silent movie classics, such as The Goddess (1934) performed live at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and described by filmmaker and critic Mark Cousins as “one of the most moving times I have spent in a cinema.”

After a period as a touring musician in bands and collectives, Charlie started off his soundtrack career composing for UK television in 2006. Some early highlights include meeting and working with legendary journalist Jon Snow on special reports for Dispatches covering the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and scoring a series for the late George Alagaih called Future of Food which was awarded Best Factual by the Royal Television Society.

His solo releases include Memories of America (2016) which was described by the Guardian journalist and author Chitra Ramaswamy as “beautiful music…sparse, wide-screen Americana evoking the shimmer and heat of flat lands bisected by long straight roads vibe…” and Jumping Off Point – EP with influences of soul, folk and vintage electronica.

The ‘Long Way Home’ soundtrack is the result of initial improvised studio takes using Charlie’s “band instruments” (fretted instruments, rhodes piano, drums, bass) along to picture, followed by additional recording sessions with some of Scotland’s most talented folk and session players. More details here