( EW.com ) -- What 's the appropriate soundtrack for kids killing kids ? That 's one of many tough questions that Grammy-winning producer T Bone Burnett had to answer while overseeing this set of songs inspired by the movie adaptation of Suzanne Collins ' best-selling novel about tweens and teens forced to fight to the death . Fans of the book might imagine its bow-hunting heroine , Katniss Everdeen , slinging arrows to the strains of something decidedly punk-rock . Personally , I 'd like to think of her blasting Bikini Kill 's `` Rebel Girl '' while she takes out Cato , Clove , Glimmer , and anyone else who underestimates her talent for ripping out tender teenage hearts and entrails . But what puts Burnett in the mood for some good old-fashioned child sacrificing , apparently , is ... folk . Or rather , as Taylor Swift recently told EW , `` Appalachian music 300 years from now -- what Americana and bluegrass music would sound like in the future . '' With everyone from Arcade Fire to Maroon 5 on `` The Hunger Games '' Soundtrack , that 's a tall order -- though certainly Swift 's sweet lullaby `` Safe & Sound , '' backed by breakout Nashville duo the Civil Wars , fits the `` Americana '' part . When she sings to an unlucky fighter , `` Just close your eyes/You 'll be alright , '' she sounds like she 's finally broken out of fairy-tale-princess territory to real adulthood . Elsewhere , the Decemberists ' furious `` One Engine '' and Punch Brothers ' pretty `` Dark Days '' carry on the mournful fingerpicking . They 're lovely songs , but all that semi-acoustic brooding makes you wonder if `` Appalachian music 300 years from now '' is the same as it ever was . Far more engaging are the artists who imagine they 've seen Katniss ' future , and all they can say is `` Go back . '' Haunted by gorgeously sad Southern-belle harmonies from Miranda Lambert and her fellow shotgun-toting Pistol Annies , `` Run Daddy Run '' is deeply ominous , a song to sing when `` you hear the devil drawin ' near . '' Best of all is Kid Cudi 's gothic rap-rock epic `` The Ruler and the Killer , '' which feels every bit as dystopian as Collins ' book . With chest-pounding military drums and a menacing Big Brother refrain ( `` You do n't talk/You 'll say nothing , okay ? '' ) , it does n't sound anything like Burnett 's kinder , gentler vision for the soundtrack . And maybe that 's why it totally captures the spirit of the film : If there 's one thing that the warriors of District 12 hate just as much as the regular kids who love `` The Hunger Games , '' it 's respecting authority . B . See the full article at EW.com . CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . © 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved .
Miranda Lambert Pistol Annies ' , '' is backed by breakout Nashville duo the Civil Wars . Miranda Lambert and `` Safe & Sound `` Run Daddy Run '' is deeply ominous . Pistol Annies ' pretty `` Dark Days '' carry on the mournful fingerpicking .