Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? music CD to be re-released with bonus CD

From the boot

Posted Jun 14th 2011 by Stephen L. Betts

Hailed by critics and embraced by fans to the tune of nine million copies sold since its release, the multi-award-winning soundtrack album, 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?,' will celebrate its tenth anniversary with a deluxe two-CD set, due August 16.

A total of 17 new tracks will be available, in addition to the original disc which featured 19 old-time, bluegrass and country tunes by such artists as Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, Ralph Stanley, the Cox Family, and of course, Dan Tyminksi, whose vocal rendition of 'Man of Constant Sorrow' was lip-synched by George Clooney in the critically-acclaimed Coen Brothers film. That tune also featured vocals by Pat Enright and the now-late Harley Allen (as the Soggy Bottom Boys).

Thirteen of the newly-released songs were recorded during the original sessions for the film, and with the exception of 'Cow Road' (by T Bone Burnett) and 'I'll Fly Away' (performed by the Kossoy Sisters) went unheard on-screen. This will mark the first time these tracks have been available in any format.

In spite of receiving very little radio airplay, 'O Brother' became one of the 10 best-selling soundtracks of all time. It's also the top-selling soundtrack and the 17th biggest album of the 21st century. The deluxe edition features original producer, 12-time Grammy winner (and Oscar winner), T Bone Burnett personally involved in all aspects of this expanded version's release.

The second disc of the 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' Deluxe Edition features artists who appeared on the original album (John Hartford, Norman Blake, the Fairfield Four, the Cox Family and the Peasall Sisters) plus a few who didn't (Colin Linden, Alan O'Bryant, Ed Lewis and Van Dyke Parks). The disc's previously recorded tracks include two from Duke Ellington, along with 'Tom Devil' by Ed Lewis and the Prisoners, and the Kossoy Sisters' 'I'll Fly Away.'.

In addition to the Grammy win for Album of the Year and two other Grammy awards that year, 'O Brother' gave birth to a groundbreaking Nashville concert, which resulted in the documentary film, 'Down From the Mountain,' and a sold-out U.S. tour. That album also won a Grammy.

'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' Deluxe Edition Track Listing:

Disc One: The Original 'O Brother Where Art Thou?'

1. 'Po' Lazarus,' James Carter and prisoners

2. 'Big Rock Candy Mountain,' Harry McClintock

3. 'You Are My Sunshine,' Norman Blake

4. 'Down to the River to Pray,' Alison Krauss

5. 'I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow,' The Soggy Bottom Boys

6. 'Hard Time Killing Floor Blues,' Chris Thomas King

7. 'I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow,' Norman Blake

8. 'Keep on the Sunny Side,' The Whites

9. 'I'll Fly Away' - Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch

10. 'Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby,' Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch

11. 'In the Highways,' Sarah, Hannah, and Leah Peasall

12. 'I Am Weary, Let Me Rest,' Cox Family

13. 'I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow,' John Hartford

14. 'O Death' - Ralph Stanley

15. 'In the Jailhouse Now,' Soggy Bottom Boys

16. 'I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow,' Soggy Bottom Boys

17. 'Indian War Whoop,' John Hartford

18. 'Lonesome Valley,' Fairfield Four

19. 'Angel Band,' Stanley Brothers

Bonus Disc

* Unreleased Tracks

* 1. 'Hard Time Killing Floor Blues,' Colin Linden

* 2. 'You Are My Sunshine,' Alan O'Bryant

* 3. 'Tishamingo County Blues,' John Hartford

4. 'Mood Indigo' - Duke Ellington

* 5. 'Cow Road,' T Bone Burnett

6. 'I'll Fly Away,' Kossoy Sisters

* 7. 'Big Rock Candy Mountain,' Van Dyke Parks

8. 'Admiration,' Duke Ellington

9. 'Tom Devil,' Ed Lewis and the Prisoners

* 10. 'Keep on the Sunny Side,' Cox Family

* 11. 'Angel Band,' Sarah, Hannah, and Leah Peasall

* 12. 'Big Rock Candy Mountain,' Norman Blake

* 13. 'Little Sadie,' Norman Blake

* 14. 'In the Highways,' Cox Family

* 15. 'That Hog's Foot Further in the Bed' - John Hartford

* 16. 'The Lord Will Make a Way,' Fairfield Four

* 17. 'In the Jailhouse Now' - Harley Allen

New 'O Brother' set serves up more old-timey music

By DAVID GERMAIN

LOS ANGELES — George Clooney isn't the only one whose singing didn't make the final cut of "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and the film's best-selling soundtrack, which helped turn old-timey music into hit pop tunes again.

Clooney's stab at singing the film's signature song still remains in the vaults, but an expanded version of the soundtrack — in stores Tuesday — packs 14 extra tracks, including 12 previously unreleased cuts from music producer T Bone Burnett's "O Brother" sessions.

The two-CD set, which also includes the 19 tunes from the original soundtrack, helps celebrate the 10th anniversary of the "O Brother" triumph at the 2001 Grammys, where it was picked as album of the year.

The film's $45 million haul at the domestic box-office was at the time the biggest success yet for filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, but it was a pittance compared to Hollywood blockbusters.

The album, though, was a runaway hit, selling 9 million copies, ranking as one of the 10 top-selling soundtracks ever and inspiring renewed interest in long-neglected rootsy music that continues today. As the studio engineer tells Clooney's gang in the film, "people can't seem to get enough" of that old-timey stuff.

"That type of music had been around my whole life. There was a period of time in the late 1950s and early '60s where it was actually popular music, and I knew there hadn't been a light shone on it for some number of years," Burnett said.

"We knew we were getting ready to shine a very bright light on it with a George Clooney movie and a George Clooney video, for that matter. I thought there was a very good chance that it would penetrate the zeitgeist, these singers and musicians; for a lot of people to hear them and think this was good music. The thing I didn't foresee was all the banjo sales increasing by 7,000 percent."

The expanded soundtrack features more songs by performers who were on the original album, among them Norman Blake, the Fairfield Four and the Peasall Sisters, and others who didn't make it on the initial release, including Van Dyke Parks, Colin Linden and Alan O'Bryant.

The double album features two previously unreleased tracks by the late John Hartford, a banjo player and music folklorist who wrote "Gentle on My Mind." Burnett recalls that Hartford recorded 30 or 40 songs in a single day as they were working on the "O Brother" soundtrack.

Inspired by Homer's "The Odyssey," the film follows three Depression-era escaped convicts (Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson) as they encounter seductive sirens, run afoul of a modern Cyclops (John Goodman) and inadvertently record a hit song with the traditional tune "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow." The film makes its debut on Blu-ray disc Sept. 13, with extras that include the "Man of Constant Sorrow" music video.

Clooney, nephew of singer Rosemary Clooney, recorded a version that "sounded great ... he does have those genes, and he is Irish," Burnett said. "If George wanted to, he could be a singer."

But Clooney only had a brief time to prepare for his studio session. Burnett said that for the film to work, the song had to sound timeless, the sort of tune that could sweep the airwaves and become the salvation for Clooney and his "Soggy Bottom Boys."

The filmmakers went with a version sung by country and bluegrass guitarist Dan Tyminski, one of the "O Brother" session musicians and a long-time member of Alison Krauss' band Union Station.

Tyminski's "Man of Constant Sorrow," which also won a Grammy, has become a standard at Krauss' shows, and the song gave him such a career boost that he stepped out from sideman duties to record two solo albums.

The music revival that followed the soundtrack's release still is going strong, Tyminski said.

"It took years before I really started to understand the impact that soundtrack had on the music. It trickled down outside anything connected to the soundtrack," Tyminski said. "I remember after that, attendance to a lot of those festivals and events that had anything do with that type of music, their attendance tripled. No extra advertising, no mention of any connection to the movie."

Burnett said there's a lot more music that might eventually be released from the "O Brother" sessions. That might potentially include Clooney's take on "Man of Constant Sorrow," which Burnett did not go looking for as he put together the expanded soundtrack.

"I don't know why we didn't think of that," Burnett said. If he can find it — and Clooney agrees — "at some point I'm going to put out the George Clooney version."

Clooney, nephew of singer Rosemary Clooney, recorded a version that "sounded great ... he does have those genes, and he is Irish," Burnett said. "If George wanted to, he could be a singer."
....
Burnett said there's a lot more music that might eventually be released from the "O Brother" sessions. That might potentially include Clooney's take on "Man of Constant Sorrow," which Burnett did not go looking for as he put together the expanded soundtrack.

"I don't know why we didn't think of that," Burnett said. If he can find it — and Clooney agrees — "at some point I'm going to put out the George Clooney version."

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