Sinners’ love letter to the blues won Best Score at the Oscars – and Buddy Guy, Kingfish and Eric Gales came out for a star-studded mid-show performance
Amid Sinners’ bloodthirsty vampires and Irish step-dancing, the 2025 blockbuster is a love letter to the blues. And that love was on full display at this year’s Oscars, with Ludwig Göransson bagging the award for Best Score and the cast pulling off a show-stopping performance of film’s track I Lied To You.
This weekend, Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre stage transformed into a Mississippi juke joint, a central location throughout Sinners. The stage felt equally as bustling and alive as the juke joint in the movie; as lead actor Miles Caton struts across the stage, vintage Dobro guitar in hand, multiple artists emerge to join in the performance.
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A majority of those involved also played an integral role in the movie. Some played key acting roles, like Buddy Guy, who played the older version of Caton’s character, wielding a Strat, or Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram, who served up blues licks on his signature Telecaster. Elsewhere, other artists worked on the score, with Brittany Howard performing on a Gibson SG while Eric Gales opted for a Kiesel.
But that’s not all – a few other artists hopped onstage for a boogie, too. Notably, hip-hop star Shaboozey even appeared, adding some further joy to the marvellous display of blues excellence.
With the majority of the film taking place in a juke joint, and central character, guitarist Sammie (played by Caton) finding a supernatural power within bluesy riffs, blues is the heart and soul of Sinners. Considering how much effort director Ryan Coogler put into honouring the blues, it’s no surprise that so many people wanted to show their support.
Of course, the movie’s love of music was rightfully honoured. Swedish composer Göransson was awarded the Oscar for Best Score, and he took the opportunity to thank the blues for guiding him throughout his life. “My dad bought his first blues album in Sweden in 1964,” he reflected. “It was a John Lee Hooker album, and even though it was from the other side of the world, in a place where my dad had never been, and could not relate to, the music was so powerful that it changed his life.”
“When I was seven years old, he put a guitar in my arms, and it became everything to me,” he continued. “The guitar opened up a lot of doors to me; it brought me to the States and eventually led me to one of the greatest storytellers of our time, Ryan Coogler.”
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