Netflix’s Western romance Ransom Canyon returned for its second season on July 23, 2026, dropping all eight episodes at once. Created by April Blair and based on Jodi Thomas’s novel series, the show once again follows rancher Staten Kirkland (Josh Duhamel) and dance hall owner Quinn O’Grady (Minka Kelly) as they navigate love, land disputes, and family legacy in the fictional Texas Hill Country town of Ransom Canyon. The season also brings back Lizzy Greene, Garrett Wareing, Marianly Tejada, Jack Schumacher, Casey W. Johnson, Ben Robson, and Patricia Clarkson, with new arrivals joining the cast as well.
From here on, this article focuses entirely on the music: the returning score from composer Jeff Cardoni, the soundtrack album’s official tracklist, and the country and pop needle drops woven through the season’s eight episodes.
Ransom Canyon Season 2 Soundtrack Details
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Series | Ransom Canyon (Season 2) |
| Creator | April Blair |
| Director(s) | Melanie Mayron and Mo McRae (Season 2); Amanda Marsalis directed the series’ first episodes in Season 1 |
| Studio/Production | Netflix, filmed in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Las Vegas, New Mexico |
| Platform | Netflix |
| Season 2 Premiere | July 23, 2026 (all 8 episodes) |
| Composer | Jeff Cardoni |
| Label | Netflix Music |
| Score Album Release | July 23, 2026 (digital) |
| Total Tracks (score album) | 22 |
| Runtime (score album) | 37 minutes, 30 seconds |
Ransom Canyon Season 2 Soundtrack Overview
Netflix Music released the official Ransom Canyon: Season 2 (Soundtrack from the Netflix Series) album digitally on July 23, 2026, timed to the season’s premiere. The 22-track collection compiles selections of Jeff Cardoni’s original score from the season, following the same release pattern as Season 1, whose own soundtrack album arrived through the label in April 2025.
Cardoni has described his approach to the show’s music as built around a deliberately understated, acoustic-leaning palette rather than a sweeping orchestral one. For Season 1, he told Netflix that his instrumentation leaned on electric and rubber-bridge guitars, pianos, bowed and e-bowed strings, and ambient sounds recorded on location — a sonic identity that carries into the second season’s score as well. Alongside the score, the show continues to lean heavily on a curated selection of country and Americana needle drops, a hallmark of the series since its debut.
Who Composed the Ransom Canyon Soundtrack?
Jeff Cardoni is an American film and television composer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter who has scored well over 100 television episodes and dozens of feature films across his career. Originally trained in classical piano and percussion, Cardoni moved to Los Angeles in 1997 after a stint as lead guitarist for the Warner Bros.-signed rock band Alien Crime Syndicate, then shifted his focus fully to film scoring. He studied conducting and orchestration at UCLA while working under composers John Murphy (Snatch, 28 Days Later) and Christopher Tyng (Futurama, The O.C.).
Cardoni built a long-running TV composing career through hundreds of episodes of CSI: Miami, work that earned him multiple ASCAP Film and Television Awards, and he was later nominated for an Ariel Award for his score to the 2005 feature 7 Dias. In addition to his composing work, he’s an active songwriter, having written the theme songs for MTV’s Pimp My Ride, Fox’s MADtv, and FX’s The League, as well as the theme for CBS’s Young Sheldon. His more recent television scoring credits include Silicon Valley, The Kominsky Method, Ghosts, Heels, and White House Plumbers, alongside feature work such as Just Friends, Me Time, and Players. Cardoni has scored both seasons of Ransom Canyon to date.
Ransom Canyon Season 2 Official Tracklist
Per Netflix Music and Film Music Reporter, the official score album tracklist is as follows:
- Back in Ransom Canyon (2:43)
- When I Was in New York (2:46)
- Falling Snow (2:10)
- Divorce Negotiation (2:17)
- The Plan in Action (1:23)
- That Ship Has Sailed (1:41)
- Indecision (2:07)
- Office Talk (1:58)
- Kai and Sam Confront Sydney (1:46)
- Lucky to Have You (1:37)
- I Don’t Think I Can Do This (1:35)
- New Beginnings (1:08)
- Don’t Need an Answer (1:32)
- You Were Always Better (1:28)
- Quinn Has a Solution (1:23)
- A Grifter Was Born (1:21)
- Gantry Inspection (1:23)
- Circle of Life (1:13)
- Quinn’s Pitch (1:08)
- Claire Comes Clean (1:07)
- Drifting Apart (1:04)
- Ransom Canyon Season 2 Credits (2:40)
Total runtime: 37 minutes, 30 seconds, independently verified by summing each track’s duration.
Note: Film Music Reporter’s published tracklist shows several tracks running one second longer each (for example, “Office Talk” at 1:59 rather than 1:58) than the durations listed on FMDB. This article uses FMDB’s per-track timings as the primary source, since FMDB is generally the more precise source for exact track durations; the one-second variances do not affect the overall album runtime in any meaningful way.
Score Highlights
Track titles on a Cardoni score tend to double as scene descriptors, so the following reads on individual cues are analytical interpretations based on the titles themselves, not confirmed scene-by-scene placements:
- “Back in Ransom Canyon” — the album opener, and its title suggests it likely underscores Quinn’s return to town at the start of the season.
- “When I Was in New York” — given Quinn’s six-month stint with the New York Philharmonic between seasons, this cue plausibly scores a flashback or reflective moment tied to her time away.
- “Divorce Negotiation” and “Kai and Sam Confront Sydney” — titles that point to the season’s family and business conflict threads playing out among the ranching dynasties.
- “Circle of Life” and “Drifting Apart” — shorter, contemplative-sounding cues that, based on their placement late in the tracklist, may accompany season-ending emotional beats.
- “Ransom Canyon Season 2 Credits” — the closing track, confirmed as the season’s end-credits music.
Ransom Canyon Season 2 Licensed Songs / Needle Drops
Alongside Cardoni’s score, Season 2 continues the show’s tradition of country and Americana needle drops, curated by returning music supervisor Madonna Wade-Reed. Confirmed songs and artists featured in the season include:
- Thomas Rhett feat. Jordan Davis — “Ain’t a Bad Life”, which also doubles as an in-story live performance — Thomas Rhett and Jordan Davis appear on-screen performing, echoing the Charley Crockett cameo performance from Season 1.
- Armani White feat. Samara Cyn — “GHOST”
- Bavoh feat. Pynk Beard — “Like a Bull”
- Additional confirmed artists in the season’s needle drop selection include The Black Keys, Hank Williams, and Maddie & Tae, per Deadline’s reporting on the season’s music.
According to Deadline, Wade-Reed — who has also worked with creator April Blair on Reign and All American — ran singer-songwriter bootcamps in Nashville and Los Angeles specifically to source original music for the season, with three of the confirmed Season 2 songs originating from those sessions.
A complete, episode-by-episode breakdown with exact scene timestamps is not yet available: needle drop databases including Tunefind, WhatSong, and SeekerTune had not yet indexed Season 2 at the time of writing, which is typical in the days immediately following a same-day release. This section will be updated once that episode-level data is confirmed.
Jeff Cardoni Composer Filmography
| Title | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Ransom Canyon (Seasons 1–2) | Netflix Series | 2025–2026 |
| The Kominsky Method | Netflix Series | 2018–2021 |
| Silicon Valley | HBO Series | 2014–2019 |
| White House Plumbers | HBO Limited Series | 2023 |
| Heels | Starz Series | 2021–2023 |
| Ghosts | CBS Series | 2021–present |
| Young Sheldon | CBS Series (theme song) | 2017–2024 |
| Me Time | Netflix Film | 2022 |
| Players | Netflix Film | 2024 |
| Just Friends | Feature Film | 2005 |
| CSI: Miami | CBS Series | 2003–2012 |
Where to Listen to the Ransom Canyon Season 2 Soundtrack?
The Ransom Canyon: Season 2 (Soundtrack from the Netflix Series) album by Jeff Cardoni is available now on all major digital music services via Netflix Music, including Spotify and Apple Music, alongside Amazon Music and other standard streaming and download platforms. The needle drops featured across the season’s episodes are generally available individually on the same platforms through their respective artists and labels, though a consolidated official playlist for Season 2 had not yet been published by Netflix at the time of writing.
FAQs
Who composed the Ransom Canyon Season 2 soundtrack?
Jeff Cardoni composed the original score for Season 2, as he did for Season 1.
How many tracks are on the Ransom Canyon Season 2 soundtrack album?
The official score album contains 22 tracks with a combined runtime of 37 minutes and 30 seconds.
When was the Ransom Canyon Season 2 soundtrack released?
The soundtrack album was released digitally on July 23, 2026, the same day Season 2 premiered on Netflix.
Where can I stream the Ransom Canyon Season 2 soundtrack?
The score album is available on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and other major digital music platforms via Netflix Music.
Does Ransom Canyon Season 2 feature any licensed songs besides the score?
Yes. Confirmed artists featured in Season 2 include Thomas Rhett with Jordan Davis, Armani White, Bavoh, The Black Keys, Hank Williams, and Maddie & Tae, among others.
Is there a live musical performance in Ransom Canyon Season 2, like Charley Crockett’s in Season 1?
Yes. Thomas Rhett and Jordan Davis appear performing “Ain’t a Bad Life” on-screen, continuing the show’s Season 1 tradition of an in-story live musical performance.
How many episodes does Ransom Canyon Season 2 have?
Season 2 consists of eight episodes, all released simultaneously on July 23, 2026.