Editor’s Note: Jack Tottle is the director of the Bluegrass and Country Music program at ETSU.
O Brother, Where Art Thou is an unconventional film woven around the magical music of the American South with excellent bluegrass and traditional country music soundtrack that tops national country music charts.
The Coen Brother’s O Brother, Where Art Thou is unique in a variety of ways.
Starring George Clooney, who won a Golden Globe award for his performance, the storyline revolves around the escape of three inept convicts and their haphazard quest for freedom, money and a better life.
It’s a kind of surrealistic and dreamlike fable of the Deep South in the 1930s, complete with lovingly rendered portraits of stupidity, greed and corruption.
The humor ranges from subtle to slapstick, with content periodically reprising the Odyssey of Homer and the Wizard of Oz.
About the only thing treated with respect is the music.
In fact this is the first feature film in which real bluegrass, old time country music, blues, gospel and African-American work songs are not just background, but a major part of the fabric of the story.
History enters a dizzying time warp in O Brother. The Stanley Brothers’ 1960s arrangement of “Man of Constant Sorrow” (impressively redone by contemporary bluegrass singer, Dan Tyminski) becomes a No. 1 hit in the 1930s as sung by the three escapees. Ralph Stanley himself is the musical voice of a grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
The Carter Family, singing their theme song, “Keep On the Sunny Side” is glimpsed as portrayed by mandolinist Buck White and his two daughters (one of whom is Ricky Skaggs’ wife). The fact that the Carter Family never used a mandolin is just one of many liberties the film takes with reality.
“Pass the Biscuits” by Pappy O’Daniel who actually helped western swing giant Bob Wills get his career started and who ran for governor in Texas is portrayed as running for governor of Mississippi.
The famed gangster Baby Face Nelson makes an appearance, as does Tommy Johnson, a bluesman who appears to be a stand-in for the legendary Robert Johnson.
The film takes maximum advantage of the big screen and wonderful high-quality surround-sound available in modern movie theaters.
Actor Tim Blake Nelson sings (in his own voice) “In the Jailhouse Now,” a hit from the father of country music, Jimmie Rodgers. The closing credits are accompanied by a lovely remastered version of “Oh Come, Angel Band,” performed by the Stanley Brothers.
The region surrounding the Tri-Cities is well represented.
Some of the artists involved grew up in neighboring areas of Southwest Virginia: Scott County for the A.P. Carter Family, Dickenson County for the Stanley Brothers. Mississippian Jimmie Rodgers, along with the Carter Family, were discovered at the famed “Big Bang of Country Music” recording session in Bristol TN/VA by Victor recording talent scout Ralph Peer.
East Tennessee State University’s Bluegrass and Country Music Program is also a participant.
The musical contributions of alumnus Barry Bales are featured on the film’s soundtrack and there is an on-screen fiddle performance by ETSU faculty member Ed Snodderly.
The soundtrack CD from O Brother Where Art Thou has currently reached a remarkable No. 1 on the Billboard Country Music Charts. This is a virtually unheard of achievement for an album of tradition-based music.
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