O Brother, Where Art Thou? - Soundtrack

This soundtrack has a very specific sound, and therefore should not be purchased lightly. Here you will find a superb collection of bluegrass, early blues, pre-commercialized country, gospel, hill billy folk music by a variety of excellent performers. If you don’t like any of these sounds, then this CD is Not for you! Let me share a little personal experience with you to better illustrate the point I want to make to you. My husband is a Leader for one of our local Boy Scout troops. The leaders of this troop and their families have a yearly date where we camp out for a weekend in a small campground high in the Allegheny Mountains. Now, this is a great ...  Read the complete review

Before watching O Brother, Where Art Thou? my experience of bluegrass/country music was limited (Dolly Parton would have been the only country singer that sprang to mind!), it isn't a genre that a twenty something like me is generally exposed to. But after watching the film, and realising how important the soundtrack was to this amazing film I have well and truly been converted to a Deep South bluegrass fan! T-Bone Burnett assembled a spectacular bluegrass score - not in years has a soundtrack been so successfully in tune with a film in my opinion. Indeed some of the film's best scenes are brought about and/or complimented by the songs on this CD (George ...  Read the complete review

If you've seen the movie, then you'll know that this CD is a treat. It is an excellent mix of old blues, bluegrass and country music, which complemented every changing mood during the movie, yet stands equally well alone. Get ready for some foot-tapping and thigh-slapping, watch out if granny gets out those old spoons and starts to jam along! This is a fun music mix for those of us who know about front porch sitting and backyard barbecues. The Norman Blake rendering of "You Are My Sunshine" prompted me to sing that childhood song as I watched the movie but I must admit, it was the Soggy Mountain Boys plaintive warbling on "I Am ...  Read the complete review

I still rate "O Brother, where art though?" as one of my favourite comedy films of all time. It's possibly my favourite Cohen Brothers film at the moment too. And it is a rare thing - a non musical that relies very heavily on the music and the score contained within the film to carry it. So, naturally, I had to buy this CD - it's part of the movie itself. Every nuance of the film is contatined in the CD and you know a soundtrack is really doing it's job when you are listening to it and remembering the parts of the film that the particular piece of music was from. And, of course, there is the amazing track, "I am a man of constant sorrow", the ...  Read the complete review

This is a real tough cd to rate, it has to be said. Assuming that you wouldn't even consider buying this soundtrack unless you'd seen the excellent Coen brothers movie, then you know the song that George Clooney et al "sing" (read: mime) as "The Soggy Bottom Boys". A great great song ("I am a man of constant sorrow") which is on the cd in 3 incarnations. It's almost worth buying the cd for that alone. Almost, but not quite. Also on this soundtrack is the haunting "siren" song "Don't leave nobody but the baby", and also "I'll Fly away" both sung by the Alison Krauss (with others), a lady of ...  Read the complete review