O Brother, Where Art Thou?

a great cd
i've been really enjoying this cd--i've wanted it since the movie came out and finally bought myself one. i love both the vocal and the instrumental parts of the album--a rich mix of layered complexity and rough simplicity that manages to work together all the way thru. it's fantastic!

so unique and different
My husband and I both love this CD. It is so unique and different with wonderful harmonies by wonderful voices. I didn't even know that the female voices I was listening to belonged to Allison Krauss and Emily Lou Harris until weeks later.

oh brother where art thou?
the product was exactly what i wanted and was in the condition the seller said it was thanks!

A Salute To Mountain Music
Sometimes a revival of a musical form, like the "talking blues", that highlighted the urban folk revival of the early 1960's is driven by a social need. In that case it was to provide a format for the "glad tidings" that a new political and social movement was a-bornin'. In the case of the revival several years ago of what is called "mountain music" it was the films "The Song Catcher" and, more importantly, the very popular movie starring George Clooney " O Brother, Where Art Thou?' The CD under review is a compilation of music from that movie, a not unnatural tie-in in the modern entertainment business. The movie deserves a separate review, however, this CD can stand on its own as a very nice cross section of "mountain music", some familiar most not so. Without straining credulity "mountain music" is the music of the simple folk of Appalachia, those who worked hard in the coal mines, on the hard scrabble farms and in the isolated mills of the region. This was their Saturday night entertainment and with the advent of radio was a unifying cultural experience. The songs "speak" of hard and lonely lives, the beauty of the then pristine countryside, the usual vagaries of love and lost and the mysterious ways of a very personal, if arbitrary, god. Throw in a few upbeat tunes reflecting the love of "corn" liquor, women and the sometimes funny side of coping with life's trials and tribulations and you have the mountain version of the folk experience. Sound familiar? Sure it does, except, it is done with simple guitar, a blazing fiddle and, hopefully a full-bodied mandolin. Here you have all the above types of songs mentioned above in one spot. The cadence of the work in hard prison life gets a nod in "Po Lazarus". The hobo's national anthem (Great Depression era version) "Big Rock Candy Mountain" is also here. The vagaries of love get spelled out in "Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby". For uplift try the one everyone knows- "You Are My Sunshine". Norman Blake, worthy of a separate review of his own as a master of mountain music, provides a very rich instrumental "A Man Of Constant Sorrow". Finally, no recent compilation of mountain music is complete without Ralph Stanley's eerie "O Death" and "Angel Band". If you need a primer for learning about mountain music here you are.

O Brother, Where Art Thou?
When I heard about this movie it peaked my interest, but what helped make the movie truly great was the old timie music. Without it would not have been nearly as authentic. I grew up hearing some of this type music when I went to church socials in the country with my grandmother as a young child. With the acting of George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, and Holly Hunter and the incredible costumes and sets it was like taking a trip in time. Excellent movie and CD. The CD has a nice mix of blues and upbeat songs that should suit most ecclectic tastes. The standouts include "I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow", "Down In The River To Pray", "O Death ", and "In The Jailhouse Now". Well worth owning if you like blues, bluegrass, gospel, traditional country, and folk music. I never get tired of the movie or the music. Excellent quality CD with plenty of replayability. CA Luster