The Music of O' Brother

When I saw that we would be watching O Brother Where Art Thou? next week, I couldn't help but get excited. This movie has been a part of my family's culture ever since it came out. The hilarity and goofiness of the characters and plot, as well as the truly profound story line create a wonderful experience for my entire family.
One of the main aspects of the movie that my family and I have especially embraced is the soundtrack. Usually when watching movies, the soundtrack is something we don't usually think about, but profoundly impacts the way we feel at the time of a certain scene. In O Brother, I believe my parents noticed the soundtrack and proceeded to buy it. Now, whenever I watch the movie, I do notice the music playing in the background. Over the years, I have seen many of the singers perform live at random folk festivals that my parents have taken me to all over the country (my family and I are folk-festival junkies, we've been to ones near Toronto, Vancouver, and Colorado, as well as many others).
I would like to share with you some of my favorite songs from the soundtrack, in hopes that you will recognize them, as well as many other of the songs that contribute to the wonderfulness of this movie.  I don't intend to have everyone who comes across this blog listen to the entirety of all of these songs. I may have gone a little overboard in how many I post because I love them all so much, but try to get a gist of the different varieties of music that O Brother uses and how it relates to the movie itself, and even The Odyssey.

This one is called "Indian War Whoop" and is a cool sounding instrumental piece.

This is one is called "Po Lazarus". It is the song that a bunch of prisoners sing while breaking rocks for railroads.

"Big Rock Candy Mountain" is a traditional folk song that just sounds fun and happy. I love getting it stuck in my head.

This song, "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow" is what makes the Soggy Bottom Boys famous.

"Hard Time Killing Floor Blues" is a smooth, soft song that is a great one to just relax and listen to.

This song, "Lonesome Valley", sounds really weird and I'm pretty sure it comes at one of the lower points of the movie for the protagonists.

This one is another that sounds pretty unorthodox and is basically about dying. It's called "O Death"

This is another fun song by the Soggy Bottom Boys. It's called "In the Jailhouse Now"

This song, "Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby" is sung by three folk singers that I have seen perform before named Allison Krauss, Gillian Welch, and Emmylou Harris. 

This song comes at a rather weird part of the movie that is both comical and a little serious. It's titled "Down to the River to Pray", also by Allison Krauss.

Lastly, here is "I'll Fly Away", also by Allison Krauss.