The Soundtrack that Sparked a Genre

A Reason To Smile

Dan Rather and Team Steady Dec 7

Credit: Getty Images

The Grammy winning soundtrack for “O Brother Where Art Thou?”, a blend of bluegrass, country, gospel, Delta blues, and Appalachian folk music, is credited with reigniting interest in the musical genre known as Americana. It was released 25 years ago this week and is our reason to smile.

The soundtrack was produced for the movie of the same name, a satirical comedy-drama that is a retelling of Homer’s epic, “The Odyssey.” It is set in Depression era Mississippi and starred George Clooney as Ulysses.

The album’s producer, T Bone Burnett, remembers being asked to create the soundtrack. “Ethan Coen [one of the movie’s creators] called me and asked, ‘How would you like to make a movie about the history of American music?’ I mean, that’s one hell of an elevator pitch.”

Burnett compiled a catalogue of songs to reflect the Coen Brothers’ vision. He selected the songs and then asked some of the finest artists of the genre — Ralph Stanley, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Alison Krauss and The Whites — to sing them.

The 19 songs are a contrast of laments and more cheerful fare. Fort Worth based country and bluegrass band, The Whites, sang the hopeful “Keep on the Sunny Side” on the soundtrack. Sisters Sharon and Cheryl sing harmonies while their father Buck accompanies them on the mandolin.

Unlike a lot of movies, the soundtrack was a major component of the film, not simply background music, and it was a huge success.

The album reached No. 1 on Billboard’s top 200 albums, sold more than 8 million copies, and won several Grammys, including album of the year, only the second soundtrack to do so. In the process, it raised the profile of Americana music, a genre still popular a quarter of a century later.

If you want to enjoy all the songs chosen for A Reason To Smile, you can listen to this Spotify playlist, which is updated weekly.

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Stay Steady,

Dan