Generally soundtrack albums are supplemental advertising devices for a film and rare is the occasion when a soundtrack can stand alone as an entity to and of itself, rarer still when that soundtrack is in the country genre, so when the soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou? was released it was with skepticism that I listened. Skepticism quickly turned to disbelief at the marvelous selections laid down for the soundtrack to this Coen Brothers film. The nineteen selections captured on disc are a joyful blend of old time mountain music, bluegrass, gospel and folk music.
   Several selections are previously recorded songs. Harry McClintocks' popular 1928 recording of "Big Rock Candy Mountain" follows on the heels of the albums opening number "Po Lazarus." This 1959 recording are from a field excursion by folk music historian Alan Lomax and features an actual prison chain gang from Camp B at Mississippi State Penitentiary in Lambert, MS as they chopped wood while swinging their axes in unison. Ralph Stanley and his late brother Carters' 1955 Mercury session recording of "Angel Band" closes out the album and Ralph's haunting rendition of "O Death" is included as well.
   Contemporary bluegrass diva Alison Krauss appears several times throughout the album with "Down To The River To Pray,", "I'll Fly Away" with Gillian Welch and accompanying both Gillian and Emmylou Harris on "Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby."
   The Whites and The Cox Family add their unique blend of vocals to "Keep On The Sunny Side" and "I Am Weary (Let Me Rest)" respectively.
   The Peasall Sisters (Sarah - 12, Hannah - 8 and Leah - 6) provide the vocals for George Clooney's daughters in the movie with the song "In The Highways."
   John Hartford ("Gentle On My Mind") picks through "Indian War Whoop" and "I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow" and The Fairfield Four add their vocals with "Lonesome Valley" while musician extraordinaire Norman Blake is recorded twice, once with the standard "You Are My Sunshine" and then again with "I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow."
   Fleshing out the remainder of the album is the ensemble work of several vocalists including Dan Tyminski (of Union Station fame) joining together as "The Soggy Bottom Boys" on three cuts including the Jimmie Rodgers classic "In The Jailhouse Now" and two renditions of the same song - "I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow."
   The music for O Brother was such an integral part of the film that the musical canvas was painted even before the first scenes were shot. "Music became a very prominent feature very early on in the (script) writing" said Joel Coen, one half of the brother duo that produced and directed O Brother, "and it became even more so as we went along. There are very few scenes in the movie that don't have an in-screen musical element to them."
   For once Hollywood has reached beyond the stereotypical country music sound and found the soul of a music that is still alive and well.

-Charlton Wiggins