''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' is the

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' ...

of music from the 2000 American film of the same name, written, directed and produced by the

Coen Brothers Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Jesse Coen (born September 21, 1957),State of Minnesota. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002''. Minnesota Department of Health. collectively known as the Coen brothers (), are American film ...

and starring

George Clooney George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a British Academy Film Award, four Golden Globe Awards, and two Academy Awards, one for his acting and the ot ...

John Turturro John Michael Turturro (; born February 28, 1957) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his contributions to the independent film movement. He has appeared in over sixty feature films and has worked frequently with the Coen brothers, ...

, Tim Blake Nelson, and

John Goodman John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He gained national fame for his role as the family patriarch Dan Conner in the ABC comedy series '' Roseanne'' (1988–1997; 2018), for which he received a Golden Globe Award, ...

. The film is set in

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. The soundtrack, produced by

T-Bone Burnett Joseph Henry "T Bone" Burnett III (born January 14, 1948) is an American record producer, guitarist and songwriter. He rose to fame as a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band during the 1970s. He has received multiple Grammy awards for his work in fil ...

, uses bluegrass,

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whi ...

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...

, and

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

appropriate to the time period. With the exception of a few vintage tracks (such as Harry McClintock's 1928 single " Big Rock Candy Mountain"), most tracks are modern recordings. The soundtrack was reissued on August 23, 2011, with 14 new tracks that were not included in the original album, "including 12 previously unreleased cuts from music producer T-Bone Burnett's ''O Brother'' sessions."

Development and sound

The soundtrack was conceived as a major component of the film, not merely as a background or support. For this reason it was decided to record the soundtrack before filming. T-Bone Burnett and Alan Larman were invited to design collections of music. Dirges and other macabre songs recurring in

Appalachian music Appalachian music is the music of the region of Appalachia in the Eastern United States. Traditional Appalachian music is derived from various influences, including the ballads, hymns and fiddle music of the British Isles (particularly Scotland) ...

, such as "

O Death "O Death", also known as "O, Death", "Oh Death" and "Conversations with Death", is a traditional Appalachian folk song, listed as number 4933 in the Roud Folk Song Index. The song is generally attributed to the musician and Baptist preacher L ...

", " Lonesome Valley", " Angel Band", and "I Am Weary", appear in the film as a contrast to the bright, cheerful songs like "Keep On the Sunnyside" and "In the Highways". Ralph Stanley of

The Stanley Brothers The Stanley Brothers were an American bluegrass duo of singer-songwriters and musicians, made up of brothers Carter Stanley (August 27, 1925 – December 1, 1966) and Ralph Stanley (February 25, 1927 – June 23, 2016). Ralph and Carter perfo ...

personally recorded the

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

folk song "O Death". " I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow" has five variations: two are used in the film, one in the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

, and two in the album. Two of the variations feature the verses being sung back-to-back, and the other three variations feature additional music between each verse. The voices of the Soggy Bottom Boys were provided by

Dan Tyminski Daniel John Tyminski (born June 20, 1967) is an American bluegrass composer, vocalist, and instrumentalist. He is a member of Alison Krauss's band Union Station, and has released three solo albums, ''Carry Me Across the Mountain'' (2000), on ...

(lead vocal on "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow"), Nashville songwriter

Harley Allen Harley Lee Allen (January 23, 1956March 30, 2011) was an American bluegrass and country singer and songwriter. Early life Allen was born in Dayton, Ohio, the son of bluegrass performer Red Allen. Discography Studio albums Singles Mu ...

, and the

Nashville Bluegrass Band The Nashville Bluegrass Band is an American bluegrass music ensemble founded in 1984. The group's members first played together in 1984 as a backing band for Vernon Oxford and Minnie Pearl; each of the members was an established musician from th ...

's Pat Enright.

Reception and legacy

''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' won the

Grammy Award for Album of the Year The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is presented by the The Recording Academy, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording ...

in 2002, the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

for

Best Country Collaboration with Vocals Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporation ...

(for singer

, whose voice overdubbed

's in the film on "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow", Nashville songwriter Harley Allen, and the Nashville Bluegrass Band's Pat Enright), and the

for

Best Male Country Vocal Performance The Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by ...

for "O, Death" by Ralph Stanley. The album won the Album of the Year Award (only the second soundtrack to ever do so) and Single of the Year Award for "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow" at the

Country Music Association Awards The Country Music Association Awards, also known as the CMA Awards or CMAs, are presented to country music artists and broadcasters to recognize outstanding achievement in the country music industry. The televised annual presentation ceremony ...

. It also won the Album of the Year Award at the 37th Academy of Country Music Awards and took home 2 International Bluegrass Music Awards: Album of the Year and Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year (for

Alison Krauss Alison Maria Krauss (born July 23, 1971) is an American bluegrass- country singer and musician. She entered the music industry at an early age, competing in local contests by the age of 8 and recording for the first time at 14. She signed wit ...

and

Gillian Welch Gillian Howard Welch (; born October 2, 1967) is an American singer-songwriter. She performs with her musical partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Their sparse and dark musical style, which combines elements of Appalachian music, bluegrass, coun ...

on "I'll Fly Away"). In 2006, the album ranked No. 38 on '' CMT's 40 Greatest Albums in Country Music''. In 2009, '' Rhapsody'' ranked it No. 8 on the "Country's Best Albums of the Decade" list. Engine 145 Country Music Blog ranked it No. 5 on the "Country's Best Albums of the Decade" list. In 2010, ''

All Songs Considered ''All Songs Considered'' is a weekly online multimedia program started in January 2000 by NPR's ''All Things Considered'' director Bob Boilen. At first, the show featured information and streaming audio about the songs used as bumper music on ...

'', a program on NPR, included the soundtrack album on their list of "The Decade's 50 Most Important Recordings". Some of the artists on the soundtrack album played a concert at the Ryman Auditorium in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

, which was recorded in the 2000

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

, ''

Down from the Mountain ''Down from the Mountain'' is a 2000 documentary and concert film featuring a live performance by country and traditional music artists who participated in the Grammy-winning soundtrack recording for the Joel and Ethan Coen film, ''O Brother, W ...

''. On August 23, 2011, a 10th anniversary edition was released featuring a bonus disc with 14 new tracks that were not included in the original album, all but two of which were previously unreleased songs from Burnett's original sessions.

Commercial performance

The album charted at No. 1 on ''Billboard'' 200 In 2001, and spent over 20 weeks on the ''Billboard'' Top Country Albums Chart. The soundtrack CD became a best seller; it was first certified Gold by the RIAA on February 9, 2001, and reached 8 times

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

by October 10, 2007. It has sold 8,175,800 copies in the United States as of October 2019.

Track listing

The 10th Anniversary bonus disc includes five songs that were used in the movie. The bonus disc versions of "You Are My Sunshine" and "I'll Fly Away" are the ones used in the film, not the versions on the original soundtrack. Both the original soundtrack and the bonus disc versions of "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues", "Keep on the Sunny Side", and "Angel Band" are used in the film. The music credits for the movie list two songs, "Admiration" (written by William Tyers and performed by Pat Rebillo) and "What Is Sweeter" (written by M. K. Jerome), which are not included on either edition of the soundtrack.

Personnel

* Norman Blake – Performer,

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

* Jerry Douglas –

Dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson (guitar company), Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. ...

– Vocals,

harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. Howeve ...

vocals *

Chris Sharp Larry Christopher Sharp (born July 17, 1973) is an American musician, guitarist, singer, and record producer who participated in the Grammy Award-winning soundtrack of ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?''. He is considered to be an accomplished guit ...

– Rhythm guitar *

– Performers * Ralph Stanley – Performer *

Sam Bush Charles Samuel Bush (born April 13, 1952) is an American mandolinist who is considered an originator of progressive bluegrass music. In 2020, he was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame as a member of New Grass Reviva ...

–

Mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of ...

Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, includin ...

– Performer * John Hartford –

Fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the ...

, vocals *

The Fairfield Four The Fairfield Four is an American gospel group that has existed for over 100 years, starting as a trio in the Fairfield Baptist Church, Nashville, Tennessee, in 1921. They were designated as National Heritage Fellows in 1989 by the National En ...

– Performer * Ed Haley –

Arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchest ...

*The Whites: **Buck White – Mandolin, vocals, harmony vocals **Cheryl White – Bass, Vocals, harmony vocals **Sharon White – Guitar, vocals * Mike Compton – Guitar, mandolin *

Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music of the 20th century. He was also a musician himself, as well as a folklorist, archivist, writer, s ...

– Arranger *Harley Allen – Vocals, harmony vocals * Barry Bales –

Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

* Ron Block –

Banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

*Curtis Burch – Dobro *

T Bone Burnett Joseph Henry "T Bone" Burnett III (born January 14, 1948) is an American record producer, guitarist and songwriter. He rose to fame as a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band during the 1970s. He has received multiple Grammy awards for his work in fil ...

– Arranger, producer *

The Cox Family The Cox Family is an American country/bluegrass music group from Cotton Valley in Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana, United States. The Cox Family can be heard on the ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' soundtrack. Their 1994 collaboration ...

: **Evelyn Cox – Guitar **Sidney Cox – Banjo, vocals, harmony vocals **Suzanne Cox – Mandolin, vocals **Willard Cox – Vocals, harmony vocals * Stuart Duncan – Fiddle *Pat Enright – Vocals, harmony vocals,

yodeling Yodeling (also jodeling) is a form of singing which involves repeated and rapid changes of pitch between the low-pitch chest register (or "chest voice") and the high-pitch head register or falsetto. The English word ''yodel'' is derived from the ...

*Isaac Freeman – Bass, vocals, lead *James Hill – Vocals *Harry McClintock – Performer * Tim O'Brien – Vocals * Maura O'Connell – Vocals * Carter Stanley – Arranger *

– Guitar, vocals *Wilson Waters – Tenor sax, vocals *

Robert K. Oermann Robert Karl Oermann is a Nashville-based music journalist and author who is recognized as an authority on country music. Oermann is a long-time regular contributor to the trade publication ''MusicRow'', for which he writes a weekly column. Bio ...

– Liner notes * Sam Phillips – Vocals *

– Arranger, vocals *Dub Cornett – Vocals * Chris Thomas King – Guitar, vocals * David Rawlings – Vocals * Gavin Lurssen – Mastering * Mike Piersante – Mixing *

Peter Kurland Peter Franklin Kurland (born 1958) is an American production sound mixer. Kurland has done boom operation work along with sound mixing on many films, such as ''Walk the Line'', '' The Ladykillers'', '' Intolerable Cruelty'', ''Men in Black'', ...

– Location recording *First Baptist Church of Norfolk Choir – Vocals *

– Guitar *Nathaniel Best – Lead *Robert Hamlett – Vocals *Joseph Rice – Vocals * The Peasall Sisters **Sarah Peasall – Alto vocal, guitar, harmony vocals **Hannah Peasall – Soprano vocal, mandolin **Leah Peasall – Tenor vocal, violin, harmony vocals *The Soggy Bottom Boys – Performer *Tim Blake Nelson – Vocals, performer *Porter McClister – Tenor backup vocals *James Carter and The Prisoners – Performers *Alan Larman – Musicologist

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

*
BBC News: O Brother, why art thou so popular?
{{DEFAULTSORT:O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Soundtrack) 2000 soundtrack albums 2000s film soundtrack albums Country music soundtracks Comedy-drama film soundtracks Bluegrass albums Albums produced by T Bone Burnett Mercury Records soundtracks Lost Highway Records soundtracks Grammy Award for Album of the Year Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media Crime film soundtracks