Now in its fifth season, FX’s Sons of Anarchy is more popular than it’s ever been. The creators of the ultra gritty drama about life in a Northern California motorcycle gang has been overwhelmed with critics fawning over the series.

Further proof of the show’s popularity, merchandise adorning the gang’s signature grim reaper logo looks like it will be run-away hit at retail this Christmas.

Kurt Sutter, the show’s creator and prolific writer, sat down with star Katey Segal and music supervisor Bob Thiele to discuss with Rolling Stone the vision that goes into creating the soundtrack. Songs Of Anarchy: Volume 2 hits stores November 19 and packs a laidback punch with exclusives like Jane’s Addiction’s cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil.”

“We always played with the idea of it having the roots of it being in that sort of sixties motorcycle subculture… Rolling Stones, CCR… that kind of vibe,” explains Sutter. “That’s sort of the underpinnings of our musical choices.”

“When Kurt writes a script, he’ll sometimes actually put the song into the script itself,” describes Thiele. “So this year I had done a version of, just a sketch version of ‘Sympathy for the Devil.’” Thiele explained how well everyone responded to the idea but questioned, “who’s gonna do it?”

“What about Jane’s Addiction?” Thiele smiled and said he’d “try,” having no idea if the band would actually be into it.

Being a fan of the show as well as motorcycles, “It was pretty easy to say yes,” recalls Jane’s frontman Perry Ferrell.

Coincidentally, Jane’s Addiction’s Dave Navarro will play Biz Lats, a gang member, in two episodes set to air this season.

Listen to Songs of Anarchy: Vol 2 in its entirety here.

– Jay Tilles, CBS Local