Tracks
O Brother, Where Art Thou? is the soundtrack of music from the 2000
American film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, written, directed and
produced by the Coen Brothers and starring George Clooney, John
Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, and John Goodman.
With the film set in Mississippi during the Great Depression, the
soundtrack uses American bluegrass, country and folk music
appropriate to the time period. The score, produced by T-Bone
Burnett, prominently features bluegrass, gospel, blues and country
music. With the exception of a few vintage tracks (such as Harry
McClintock's 1928 single "Big Rock Candy Mountain"), most tracks
are modern recordings.
Tracks:
1. Po Lazuras
2. Big Rock Candy Mountain
3. You Are My Sunshine
4. Down To The River To Pray
5. I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow (Radio Station Version)
6. Hard Time Killing Floor Blues
7. I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow (Instrumental)
8. Keep On The Sunny Side
9. I'll Fly Away
10. Did'nt Leave Nobody But The Baby
11. In The Highways
12. I Am Weary (Let Me Rest)
13. I Ama Man Of Constant Sorrow
14. O Death
15. I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow (With Band)
16. Indian War Whoop
17. Lonesome Valley
18. Angel Band
Performer Notes
- Personnel: Chris Thomas King, Dan Tyminski, Norman Blake, Sharon White (vocals, guitar); Sidney Cox (vocals, banjo); Suzanne Cox, Buck White (vocals, mandolin); John Hartford (vocals, fiddle); Wilson Waters (vocals, tenor saxophone); Cheryl White, Sarah Peasall, David Rawlings, Porter McLister, First Baptist Church Choir of White House, TN, First Baptist Church of Norfolk Choir, Joseph Rice, Dub Cornett, Gillian Welch, Harley Allen, Robert Hamlett, Leah Peasall, James Hill, Isaac Freeman, Willard Cox, Sam Phillips , Alison Krauss, Maura O'Connell, Tim Blake Nelson, Tim O'Brien, Pat Enright, Hannah Peasall (vocals); Mike Compton (guitar, mandolin); Chris Sharp, Evelyn Cox (guitar); Curtis Burch, Jerry Douglas (dobro); Ron Block (banjo); Sam Bush (mandolin); Stuart Duncan (fiddle).
- Audio Mixer: Mike Piersante.
- Liner Note Author: Robert K. Oermann.
- Arrangers: Ed Haley; Gillian Welch; Alan Lomax; T-Bone Burnett; Carter Stanley.
- Those kings of cinematic quirkiness, the Coen brothers, fashioned their film O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? as a contemporary adaption of Homer's Odyssey, centering around a group of American chain-gang prisoners. The film's earthy Southern setting makes it a natural for a bluegrass-oriented soundtrack, for which producer T-Bone Burnett picked the cream of the country crop.
- "Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby," for example, is a summit meeting of some of the finest contemporary female country vocalists (Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris, and Alison Krauss). The old school isn't forgotten either, as evidenced by a chilling a cappella rendering of "O Death," courtesy of Ralph Stanley, and by the closing cut, where the Stanley Brothers issue an elegant plea to heaven with "Angel Band."
Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (1/03/02, p.119) - Ranked #9 in Rolling Stone's "Top 10 2001".
Rolling Stone (1/18/01, pp.56-7) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...A collection of folk, bluegrass, gospel and hobo country so true to the music's down-home, egalitarian roots that it's hard to distinguish the old tracks from the new and the folk heroes from screen actors..."
Rolling Stone (1/03/02, p.119) - Ranked #9 in Rolling Stone's "Top 10 2001".
Rolling Stone (1/18/01, pp.56-7) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...A collection of folk, bluegrass, gospel and hobo country so true to the music's down-home, egalitarian roots that it's hard to distinguish the old tracks from the new and the folk heroes from screen actors..."
Entertainment Weekly (10/12/01, p.38) - Ranked #56 in EW's "100 Best Movie Soundtracks" - "...An unlikely hillbilly smash making 1930s-style string-band music the 1st trend of the 21st-century..."
Entertainment Weekly (10/12/01, p.38) - Ranked #56 in EW's "100 Best Movie Soundtracks" - "...An unlikely hillbilly smash making 1930s-style string-band music the 1st trend of the 21st-century..."
Q (12/00, p.139) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Mostly traditional spirituals and bluegrass numbers....richly evocative of its time and place, and educational too..."
Q (12/00, p.139) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Mostly traditional spirituals and bluegrass numbers....richly evocative of its time and place, and educational too..."
No Depression (1-2/01, p.90) - "...The rarest of contemporary soundtracks: good (old) music, coherently programmed, and masterfully perfromed....an exceptional album..."
No Depression (1-2/01, p.90) - "...The rarest of contemporary soundtracks: good (old) music, coherently programmed, and masterfully perfromed....an exceptional album..."
Mojo (Publisher) (6/02, p.68) - Included in Mojo's "100 Coolest Movie Soundtracks".
Mojo (Publisher) (1/02, p.70) - Ranked #3 in Mojo's "Best [10] Box Sets & Compilations of 2001".
Mojo (Publisher) (6/02, p.68) - Included in Mojo's "100 Coolest Movie Soundtracks".
Mojo (Publisher) (1/02, p.70) - Ranked #3 in Mojo's "Best [10] Box Sets & Compilations of 2001".
Uncut (magazine) (p.102) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[With] some superb country-blues fiddling from John Hartford and a couple of breezy, close-harmony stunners from the Cox Family."
