'Orange Is The New Black' soundtrack is a family affair

NEW YORK — Producing the second soundtrack for the Netflix series "Orange Is the New Black" became a family affair for show creator Jenji Kohan.

Kohan's 14-year-old daughter, Eliza Noxon, has the opening song on "Music from the Original Series Orange Is the New Black: Seasons 2 & 3," released digitally last month. "Hummingbird," an original track, was used in the season three opening episode.

Kohan said her daughter, who also plays the ukulele, wrote the song when she was 12 at a family camping trip when she was trying to come up with something to do at a talent show.

"She went off to the cabin and she came back with this song fully formed ... she sat down and played this song and everyone was kind of gobsmacked," Kohan said in a recent interview. "I was really impressed and when we did the Mother's Day episode, I said, 'Eliza, I want to use this song.'

"And I also love that it was the Mother's Day episode and it was sort of my gift to myself to have my child in that. It was our connection in a way," Kohan added.

Kohan said she's "biased because she's my child, but I'm also not the easiest mother ... I'm a pretty tough critic and I think she wrote a really great song."

The 13-song soundtrack, which will be released on vinyl in November, also features songs by 50 Cent, Ike & Tina Turner, Foreigner, Martha Wainwright, Gertrude Lawrence and Dum Dum Girls. Kohan said she and her staff, including music supervisor Bruce Gilbert, search everywhere for music to include on the series.

"We look on YouTube, we go to live shows, we go back to old mixtapes that we love, we listen to friends' bands," she said. "I think we're all eclectic here, and just like the show is so eclectic — you have all sorts of people, all different ages, all different backgrounds, all different ethnicities, and hopefully the soundtrack reflects that, too."

She said it's sometimes tough selecting songs because "our budget is kind of limited, so we can't go for the obvious choices and the big hits ... we have to work a little harder."

Kohan, who also created the Showtime series "Weeds," said there's a chance her daughter's music could be featured on future episodes of "OITNB."

"I have used my kids in things and left them on the editing floor," she said.

"OITNB" is nominated for four awards at Sunday's Emmys.