The soundtrack of O Brother, Where Art Thou? wasn’t just a collection of songs accompanying a film; it was a cultural phenomenon that erupted in the early 2000s. This unexpected surge of popularity propelled bluegrass musicians into the limelight and carved out a significant mainstream audience for the rich tapestry of old-time music. From the soulful depths of folk and gospel to the playful rhythms of children’s tunes, the raw emotion of prison chants, the poignant narratives of the blues, and everything musically in between – O Brother showcased it all.
Two decades after its astonishing success, and as a concluding note to our Artist of the Month series celebrating O Brother, Where Art Thou?, we delve into the profound impact this movie and its subsequent music tours had on the lives and careers of numerous musicians.
Sierra Hull, a celebrated bluegrass musician, vividly recalls the pervasive presence of mainstream pop culture in her youth, juxtaposing it with her personal musical aspirations. “Growing up in a small town, Walmart was the place to find the latest pop star posters – Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, the icons of the day. Yet, in my childhood dreams, I envisioned finding an Alison Krauss poster among them. To me, in my young mind, Alison was just as big as Britney Spears.” The release of O Brother, Where Art Thou? was a pivotal moment for Hull, “It was so cool when O Brother came out and elevated artists I already considered giants, like Alison, Dan Tyminski, and Ralph Stanley, to an even wider audience.”
Though already musically active, Hull was still too young to tour when O Brother initially exploded. Her touring experience began with Cold Mountain in 2003, another soundtrack featuring Alison Krauss. “Alison was involved in both soundtracks, and she invited my brother and me to join the Cold Mountain tour. It was like riding that second wave of soundtrack success. I was twelve, and it was my first real tour experience, traveling to incredible venues like Red Rocks and the Beacon Theater in New York. Watching Alison sing to massive crowds each night is etched in my memory.”
Hull fondly remembers the captivating stage presence of Ralph Stanley during those tours. “The audience went wild for Ralph Stanley every night. He had this incredibly sparkly suit jacket he’d wear. Sometimes, mid-performance, he’d set down his banjo, take off that jacket, and toss it to me at the side of the stage. I even got to wear that dazzling jacket during the final bows at the end of the show. It remains one of the most cherished musical experiences of my life.”
Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek recounts how O Brother, Where Art Thou? indirectly intertwined with her band’s burgeoning career. “O Brother became this unexpected association for us. Nickel Creek had just put out our first Sugar Hill record, after years of smaller, self-made projects. Alison Krauss produced that album, which had been out for about eighteen months when O Brother took off. Given Alison’s central role in the soundtrack, Nickel Creek started gaining more attention. I remember seeing a large New York Times article that mentioned us alongside artists from the O Brother scene. We were suddenly part of that wider conversation, even though we weren’t directly involved in the soundtrack. It was simply being in the right place at the right time as bluegrass awareness surged. It significantly boosted our career trajectory. We had already built some momentum, but the soundtrack was like a massive gust of wind in our sails.”
Watkins praises T Bone Burnett’s masterful production on the O Brother album, highlighting his talent for assembling the perfect musical ensemble. “T Bone Burnett has this incredible gift for casting the right musicians for each song. He brought together amazing talents, showcasing the depth within our music community, and making everyone within that community incredibly proud. Seeing our musical heroes celebrated on such a grand scale was deeply gratifying. Ralph Stanley’s vocal performance on ‘Oh Death’ particularly struck me. It sparked my interest in shape-note singing. Someone pointed out that his delivery echoed the style of old shape-note singing communities and preachers. It was unlike anything I’d ever heard. And to this day, whenever I see Dan Tyminski, I make sure to stay until he plays ‘Man of Constant Sorrow.’ I’m not leaving before that!”
Dave Wilson of Chatham County Line shares a humorous anecdote about his initial encounter with O Brother, Where Art Thou? in theaters. “I remember going to see O Brother with our old bass player. We may have snuck a bottle of whiskey in, sat in the back, and just enjoyed the film with drinks and laughter. My immediate thought was, ‘Bluegrass has truly arrived!’ We were already playing as a band, doing local gigs, but music wasn’t yet our full-time commitment. The timing of the record’s release felt like destiny. The bluegrass scene exploded. Suddenly, our style of music had this massive global advertisement. We definitely felt a shift. More unfamiliar faces started showing up at our gigs, and they were genuinely enthusiastic about the music.”
Wilson recounts an amusing audience interaction that became a recurring theme. “A funny side effect was people constantly requesting ‘Man of Constant Sorrow.’ It happened so often it made me wonder if they were soundtrack fans or just movie fans. We never played it though – we didn’t actually know how! Playing it might have actually quieted those requests!”
He expresses genuine admiration for the O Brother soundtrack’s musical arrangements and its respectful approach to the genre. “I really got hooked on the O Brother record. The arrangements are incredibly well-crafted, and importantly, it avoids being corny. It’s not overly traditional in a limiting way. I appreciate that they chose the right musicians. It could have gone so wrong. Imagine if they’d picked someone like Toby Keith – oh god, the thought! Chris Thomas King’s blues track, his cover of Skip James’ ‘Hard Time Killing Floor,’ is a standout. It creates such a powerful moment within the album. Later, when they showed the Down from the Mountain concert film at our local classic movie theater, the band went to see it, and we were all just blown away. Down from the Mountain, in many ways, had an even greater impact on the folk music scene than the movie itself.”
Sam Amidon offers a perspective on the O Brother phenomenon from within the folk music community, acknowledging the sometimes protective nature of folk enthusiasts. “People within the folk world can be very protective of the music, which is understandable. But my personal instinct is to share music I love and want others to discover it. Knowing the diverse musical landscape that O Brother explores, it was exciting to think about how many people would suddenly be exposed to these field recordings and incredible musicians. I was grateful because, up until then, mainstream media portrayals of traditional music were often poor, cliché, or simplistic. Nothing had presented this music on such a large scale before. Before O Brother, if you mentioned playing the banjo, people immediately thought of Deliverance. That was the common cultural reference point.”
Amidon emphasizes the rarity and significance of O Brother’s respectful and nuanced depiction of traditional music. “O Brother achieving this without misrepresenting the music was truly remarkable. Showcasing these different facets of American music – going beyond just the industry categories of blues and bluegrass – was incredibly positive, especially since ‘folk music’ can be such a broad and often misunderstood term. If it wasn’t specifically bluegrass or blues, people often wouldn’t know what you were talking about. O Brother highlighted all these different areas within folk music – singing games, banjo tunes, and so much more. O Brother is surprisingly inclusive, casting a wide musical net. Looking back now, it’s easy to critique aspects of the Americana genre that grew partly from this, but it’s important to remember that when O Brother first appeared, it offered a much more nuanced and expansive view of traditional music than anything that had come before.”
Woody Platt of Steep Canyon Rangers draws a parallel between the twentieth anniversary of O Brother, Where Art Thou? and his band’s formation. “It’s interesting that the twentieth anniversary of O Brother almost perfectly aligns with our band’s twentieth anniversary. We started Steep Canyon Rangers in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, when we were college seniors, right when the movie came out. Growing up in the Carolinas, we were all exposed to bluegrass and old-time music. It was just part of the cultural landscape, but none of us in the band really delved into it seriously until college. We were still relatively new to that music when the movie was released. I’m not sure we fully grasped the immediate impact of the movie and tour on bluegrass, old-time, string band, mountain music at the time, but we definitely sensed a heightened excitement when we played in bars on Franklin Street, the main street in Chapel Hill. But we didn’t have a pre-O Brother experience to compare it to. It was just our musical reality from the start.”
Platt expresses his appreciation for both the film and, particularly, the soundtrack. “I really enjoyed the movie, but I was a huge fan of the album. Hearing voices like Ralph Stanley’s and Dan Tyminski’s in a film, seeing artists I deeply admired on screen, was incredible. Looking back, the timing of our band’s beginnings was fortunate. We were having so much fun, finding so much joy in this music. What had been a niche genre suddenly gained national attention. I have no doubt that the movie significantly boosted awareness of this music. It’s a fascinating phenomenon because it wasn’t heavily marketed in a traditional sense. It just organically happened. People simply became captivated by this music.”
Molly Tuttle, a prominent figure in contemporary bluegrass, reflects on her childhood introduction to O Brother, Where Art Thou? “The movie came out when I was seven. I remember my dad showing it to me in elementary school. I loved it immediately, and the music resonated deeply because I already had a love for bluegrass and old-time music. Seeing it presented in a movie format was new and exciting. My dad teaches bluegrass professionally, and when the movie came out, he saw a significant increase in new students.”
Tuttle emphasizes the lasting impact of O Brother on bluegrass music’s broader appeal. “It’s had a lasting impact on bluegrass’s popularity. Being so young when it came out, I wasn’t familiar with many of the soundtrack musicians by name initially, so it introduced me to many artists who later became my favorites. The Down from the Mountain documentary further introduced me to figures like Emmylou Harris and Alison Krauss. Many of those artists, like Gillian Welch and John Hartford, have become major influences, and O Brother was my entry point to their music. I’ve performed ‘I’ll Fly Away’ and ‘Angel Band’ numerous times, and I even got to perform ‘Man of Constant Sorrow’ with Dan Tyminski at the IBMA awards one year.”
Dom Flemons, a celebrated banjoist and scholar of early American music, recounts his firsthand experience of the O Brother phenomenon at a Ralph Stanley concert. “I actually saw Ralph Stanley on the O Brother tour in Flagstaff, Arizona, back in 2000. It was at a high school auditorium, of all places. I saw a poster for it on a telephone pole while I was in college there. I’d already started playing banjo – six-string, four-string, guitar, and harmonica. I remember the venue was packed, and his performance was incredible. Watching him perform was captivating. Before singing ‘Oh Death,’ he pulled out a piece of paper, put on his glasses, joked about his age, and then sang it from that paper and just blew everyone away.”
Flemons underscores the historical significance of O Brother, Where Art Thou? as a bridge between generations and musical eras. “O Brother was truly something special, a milestone album for multiple generations. Many of the older musicians who played and sang in those early styles were beginning to pass away. The soundtrack became this perfect vehicle for introducing younger audiences to the music of the ‘20s and ‘30s. It reminded people of the incredible early recordings that were available. That’s exactly where I went next – discovering those old RCA Victor and Columbia recordings, and that was it for me.”
He analyzes the carefully curated tracklist of the O Brother soundtrack, highlighting its musical storytelling. “It’s a perfectly structured record, beginning with the chain gang songs and transitioning to the beauty of ‘Big Rock Candy Mountain.’ Then you move into ‘You Are My Sunshine’ with Norman Blake, and then Chris Thomas King’s powerful rendition of ‘Hard Time Killing Floor,’ which, in itself, was a revival of Skip James’ music. While films like Ghost World and songs like ‘Devil Got My Woman’ were part of a similar resurgence, I believe O Brother really amplified it. People started incorporating these older songs back into their sets at shows and festivals, and it seemed like many more people recognized them, often singing along to versions influenced by the O Brother recordings. These are observations I made even before becoming a professional musician, and it was amazing to witness.”
The enduring magic of the music from O Brother, Where Art Thou? lies not just in its individual tracks, but in its collective power to reignite a passion for American roots music in a new generation, ensuring the legacy of these timeless sounds continues to resonate.
