Various Artists

Much like the film by Joel and Ethan Coen, which is a mysterious, absurdist odyssey, the soundtrack for the film "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" contains similar nuances, filled with old-time, Southwestern music in a package that caters to a modern audience with it's CD-ROM capabilities.\nThe opening track is an apparition of sorts, introducing the CD the same way the film introduces itself -- prisoners singing soulfully to the rhythm of mallets on a railroad. The track foreshadows the spirit of the coming music: that which comes from something supernatural, yet quite corporeal.\nThe disc continues with various songs from the Depression's height such as "Big Rock Candy Mountain" and "You are my Sunshine" in recordings from artists like Harry McClintock, who, though somewhat forgotten, had been great names of the past.\nThe hit of the album, if it can be called such, is the song in which the film's three heroes sing in a recording studio to make themselves $10, but ends up making them statewide music stars. The traditional "I am a Man of Constant Sorrow" has four incarnations on the disc -- twice with the Soggy Bottom Boys, the band in the film, once with Norman Blake and once with John Harford. \nEach version has a unique quality evoking a different set of emotions, but the fifth track and the first time we hear the song is clearly the album's best track combining the best of the old-time sound with a rhythm and harmony that would make most people get up and dance.\nThe first "I am a Man of Constant Sorrow" is followed directly by the solemn "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues" sung mournfully by Chris Thomas King. The two songs together represent the complete soul found in the album.\nThe soundtrack to "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" has hit the nation like a bat out of hand and it's not surprising -- finally a soundtrack that doesn't rely on the modern popular music to sell its product -- just down-to-earth, human music done in a tasteful, yet accessible fashion.