O Brother, Where Art Thou? (soundtrack)

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O Brother, Where Art Thou?
O Brother, Where Art Thou? cover
Soundtrack by Various Artists
Released December 5, 2000
Genre Soundtrack
Length 61:24
Label Mercury Records
Producer T-Bone Burnett
Professional reviews
Coen Brothers film soundtracks chronology
The Big Lebowski
(1998)		 O Brother, Where Art Thou?
(2000)		 The Man Who Wasn't There
(2001)

O Brother, Where Art Thou? is the soundtrack of music from the 2000 American comedy film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, written, directed and produced by the Coen Brothers and starring George Clooney. Set in Mississippi during the Great Depression, three friends escape from a prison chain gang and search for fortune and love. The film is an adventure tale, loosely based on Homer's Odyssey, which Joel and Ethan Coen confessed to never having read.

With the film set in the 1930s Southern United States, the soundtrack uses American folk music appropriate to that time and place, which represented a marked break from standard Hollywood practice. The score, produced by T-Bone Burnett, prominently features "old timey" 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 were new recordings by musicians that play in the vintage style, adding an ironic twist to the soundtrack. The tracks are by such artists as Dan Tyminski, Jerry Douglas, John Hartford, Gillian Welch, Ralph Stanley, Alison Krauss, The Fairfield Four and Norman Blake.

Contents

[edit] Reception

Contrary to the Hollywood "common wisdom" that non-contemporary music alienates audiences, the soundtrack CD became a best seller, certified eight times platinum as of October 2007[1]. It won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, the Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals (for singer Dan Tyminski, whose voice overdubbed George Clooney's in the film on "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow", and Nashville songwriter Harley Allen and the Nashville Bluegrass Band's Pat Enright), and the Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for "O, Death" by Ralph Stanley.

The artists on the soundtrack also played a concert at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, which was recorded in the documentary film, Down from the Mountain.

In 2006, the album ranked #38 on CMT's 40 Greatest Albums in Country Music.

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Po' Lazarus", arrangement by Alan Lomax; performed by James Carter and The Prisoners – 4:31
  2. "Big Rock Candy Mountain", written and performed by Harry McClintock – 2:16
  3. "You Are My Sunshine", written by Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell; performed by Norman Blake – 4:26
  4. "Down to the River to Pray", traditional; performed by Alison Krauss – 2:55
  5. "Man of Constant Sorrow" (radio station version), arrangement by Carter Stanley; performed by Soggy Bottom Boys and Dan Tyminski – 3:10
  6. "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues", written by Skip James; performed by Chris Thomas King – 2:42
  7. "Man of Constant Sorrow", traditional; performed by Norman Blake – 4:28
  8. "Keep on the Sunny Side", written by A.P. Carter; performed by The Whites – 3:33
  9. "I'll Fly Away", written by Albert E. Brumley; performed by Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch – 3:57
  10. "Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby", arrangement by Alan Lomax, T-Bone Burnett and Gillian Welch; performed by Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, and Gillian Welch – 1:57
  11. "In the Highways", written by Maybelle Carter; performed by Leah, Sarah, and Hannah Peasall – 1:35
  12. "I Am Weary, Let Me Rest", written by Pete Roberts; performed by The Cox Family of Cotton Valley, Louisiana – 3:13
  13. "Man of Constant Sorrow", arrangement by Ed Haley; performed by John Hartford – 2:34
  14. "O Death", traditional; performed by Ralph Stanley – 3:19
  15. "In the Jailhouse Now", written by Jimmie Rodgers; performed by Soggy Bottom Boys and Tim Blake Nelson – 3:34
  16. "Man of Constant Sorrow" (with band), arrangement by Carter Stanley; performed by Soggy Bottom Boys and Dan Tyminski – 4:16
  17. "Indian War Whoop", written by Hoyt Ming; performed by John Hartford – 1:30
  18. "Lonesome Valley", traditional; performed by The Fairfield Four – 4:07
  19. "Angel Band", traditional, performed by The Stanley Brothers – 2:15

[edit] Music sample

Down to the River to Pray

Alison Krauss sings "Down to the River to Pray"
Problems listening to the file? See media help.

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Chart positions

Year Chart Position
2001 Top Country Albums 1
Top Internet Albums 38
Top Soundtracks 1
2002 Billboard 200 1
Top Canadian Albums 3
Top Country Albums 1
Top Internet Albums 38
Top Soundtracks 1

[edit] Singles

Year Single Chart Position
2002 "Man of Constant Sorrow" Hot Country Singles & Tracks 38

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ RIAA certifications

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Under Rug Swept by Alanis Morissette		 Billboard 200 number-one album
March 23 - April 5, 2002		 Succeeded by
Now 9 by Various artists
v • d • e
Grammy Award: Album of the Year (1991-2010)