It’s just a guy with a guitar. Honestly, that shouldn’t work for a high-stakes spy thriller about nuclear deterrence and Iranian elections. But Steven Conrad’s Patriot isn't a normal show. If you've seen it, you know the music isn't just background noise; it's the actual plot. John Tavner, played with a sort of haunting, permanent exhaustion by Michael Dorman, can’t talk about his feelings because he’s a non-official cover operative. So, he sings them. He goes to open mic nights in Milwaukee or Luxembourg and just... spills state secrets to a room full of strangers who think it’s just avant-garde folk music.
The Patriot TV show soundtrack is a masterclass in using diegetic music to build a character’s internal world. It’s awkward. It’s painfully literal. It’s also some of the best songwriting ever put on television.
The strange genius of the Patriot TV show soundtrack
Most shows hire a composer to tell you how to feel. If there’s a chase, you get drums. If there’s a breakup, you get violins. Patriot ignores that entirely. The music is written by the show’s creator, Steven Conrad, along with his brother Chris Conrad and sometimes Michael Dorman himself. It functions more like a diary.
Take the song "birds of amsterdam." It’s basically a grocery list of John’s trauma. He sings about the physical toll of his "structural engineering" job—which we all know is a front for wetwork—and the specific, mundane details of his misery. The lyrics are incredibly dense. They don’t rhyme perfectly. They feel like a guy trying to fit too many thoughts into a single measure of music. That’s the point. The Patriot TV show soundtrack works because it sounds like someone trying to stay sane while their life falls apart.
Why "The After Party" matters more than you think
In the first season, there's a recurring focus on the song "The After Party." It’s catchy in a depressing way. But look at the lyrics. It’s about the aftermath of a task. It’s about the quiet moments when the adrenaline dies down and you’re just left with the mess you made. Most spy shows skip the after party. They skip the part where the hero has to sit in a hotel room and deal with the fact that he just pushed a guy in front of a truck.
John’s songs are his only outlet. His father, Tom Tavner (Terry O'Quinn), uses him as a tool. His brother, Edward (Michael Chernus), tries to help but is mostly just confused. The guitar is the only thing that doesn't lie to him.
It’s not just folk: The broader sonic landscape
While the original songs get all the glory, the curated tracks are just as intentional. You’ve got Bill Withers. You’ve got Vashti Bunyan. You’ve got "Sure Shot" by the Beastie Boys popping up in a way that feels totally earned yet completely jarring.
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The contrast is everything.
One minute you’re listening to the delicate, fragile folk of the Patriot TV show soundtrack, and the next, you’re hit with a heavy rhythm that underscores the mechanical, repetitive nature of John’s mission. The show uses music to create a sense of "double-greatness"—a term from the show itself—where things are simultaneously going well and terribly wrong.
The Luxembourg influence
When the show moves to Europe, the music shifts slightly. It becomes more isolated. There's a track called "French Gun" that perfectly encapsulates the absurdity of the show's violence. It’s bouncy. It’s light. But it’s playing while people are doing horrible things to each other with industrial equipment.
Patriot loves that cognitive dissonance.
It uses the soundtrack to remind you that even in the middle of a geopolitical crisis, people are still just people who like songs. Even the antagonists. There’s a scene where a group of Brazilian jiu-jitsu brothers are just hanging out, and the music makes them feel human rather than just obstacles for John to overcome.
Fact check: Who actually wrote these songs?
A lot of fans think Michael Dorman wrote everything because he performs them so convincingly. He didn't, though he certainly influenced the vibe. Steven Conrad is the primary pen behind the lyrics. Conrad has a very specific "voice"—if you’ve seen Perpetual Grace, LTD, you recognize the cadence. He writes dialogue that sounds like poetry and lyrics that sound like a police report.
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It’s a specific brand of American melancholia.
The songs were recorded specifically for the show, which is why they feel so integrated. They aren't just "needle drops" bought from a library. They were birthed from the script. When John sings about a "piping circle" or "double-walled piping," he's using the technical jargon of his cover job to mask the emotional weight of his real job. It’s brilliant. It’s also incredibly funny if you have a dark sense of humor.
How to actually listen to the Patriot TV show soundtrack today
If you’re looking for a clean, official release, it’s actually a bit of a hunt. Amazon released some tracks, but the full experience is best found by watching the show (obviously) or hunting down the "Songs of Patriot" collections on streaming platforms like Spotify or Apple Music.
- Check the official "Songs of Patriot" albums. There are two main volumes.
- Look for the "Half-Way to Anywhere" EP. This contains some of the more iconic Milwaukee-era tracks.
- Don't ignore the incidental score. Alex Wurman’s work provides the connective tissue between the folk songs.
The tragedy of the Patriot TV show soundtrack is that it’s tied to a show that didn't get the massive audience it deserved. Because of that, the physical media—like vinyl—is incredibly rare or non-existent. You're mostly stuck with digital.
The legacy of John Tavner’s guitar
There is a moment in season two where John is trying to remember the lyrics to a song while he’s physically and mentally breaking down. It’s hard to watch. The music starts to fray. The chords are wrong. It shows that for John, the music isn't a hobby; it’s his tether to reality. When he can’t play, he’s lost.
The soundtrack isn't just a collection of cool songs. It’s a study in how we cope. We all have our version of an open mic night in Luxembourg—some place where we try to say the truth, even if we have to wrap it in a melody so nobody actually hears us.
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If you want to understand the show, you have to listen to the lyrics of the Patriot TV show soundtrack as if they were dialogue. They aren't metaphors. When he sings about being sad, he's really, really sad. When he sings about the difficulty of traveling with a giant bag of money, he's literally talking about the bag of money he's currently carrying.
Essential Listening Path
Start with "Dead Serious." It sets the tone for the entire series. Then move to "Charles Grodin." It’s a weirdly touching tribute to the actor that doubles as a meditation on disappointment. Finally, listen to "Station to Station." It captures the repetitive, soul-crushing nature of the "intelligence" world.
The music is what makes Patriot more than just a spy show. It makes it a human show. It’s messy, it’s repetitive, and it’s occasionally beautiful. Just like the show itself.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Create a custom playlist: Mix the original Steven Conrad songs with the licensed tracks like Train’s "Drops of Jupiter" (used ironically and tragically in the show) to get the full "Tavner" experience.
- Watch the lyrics: Next time you re-watch, turn on subtitles specifically for the songs. You’ll catch technical details about the plot that you missed the first time.
- Support the artists: Follow Alex Wurman and Steven Conrad’s projects. Their sonic fingerprint is unique in modern television and deserves the engagement.
The Patriot TV show soundtrack remains a cult classic for a reason. It doesn't sound like anything else on TV because the show doesn't feel like anything else on TV. It’s a singular vision of what happens when the bravest thing a hero can do is pick up a guitar and tell the truth.