Performer Notes
- 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."
