Customer Reviews

Down From the Mountain: Live Concert Performances by the Artists & Musicians of O Brother, Where Art Thou?

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I purchased this album the first week it was released becuase it featured three of my favorite artists, The Whites, Emmylou Harris, and Alison Krauss and I have found this album to be even BETTER than the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack! Emmylou Harris offers a fantastic version of 'Green Pastures' with Gillian Welch on harmony. The Whites perform an old tune 'Sandy Land' with Sharon White's amazing vocals on lead! Alison Kraus & Union station have two songs on the album, the first is 'Wild Bill Jones' with Krauss's band member Dan Tyminski on lead vocals, the second tune from Alison is her fantastic 'Blue & Lonesome'. Gillian Welch also presents two of her own tunes, with 'I Wanna Sing That Rock & Roll' being the better of the two. The album closes with Gillian & Alison's IBMA award winning 'I'll Fly Away'. The only disappointment on this album is the exclusion of bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley, who performed on the concert, and is on the video release of the concert. But all in all, this a fantastic album for the bluegrass lover!

This disk does NOT contain all of the songs from the soundtrack of "Down from the Mountain," or even the best ones. What it contains are the songs that did not make the cut for the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" disk. It is a supplement to the first disk.

I listened to it before I saw the video of the concert, and was disappointed. Now that I have seen the video (which is absolutely superb), I like the disk better, but as other reviewers have noted, it does not convey the magic of the video. Given a choice between buying the disk or the video, the video is clearly the winner.

John Hartford was wonderful in the video, but it's the ladies (especially Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch and Alison Krauss) who run away with the show.

Finally, if you're interested in seeing a live performance like this, Asheville (not Nashville) is the place to see it -- the Asheville, North Carolina folk festival begins every year on the first friday in August, 'long about sundown. The performers (all amateurs) drift down out of the hills with their guitars, fiddles, dulcimers and saws, and augmented by cloggers, put on a show you'll never forget. It's the kind of show John Hartford would have loved.

While here has to be a hint of crass commercialism in the decision to release this CD given the success of the "O Brother" soundtrack the end result is still a boon for the listener and a continuation of the celebration of a very important musical style. This CD is a great adjunct to the soundtrack CD and introduces some new songs as well as different versions of songs found on the soundtrack CD. Songs like "Wild Bill Jones" and "I want to sing that Rock and Roll" capture the listener's attention with their strong melodies and crafted lyrics. Chris Thomas King's version of "John Law burned down the liquor sto'" highlights his blues talents and adds a needed depth to the selection of songs offered on this CD. For longtime fans there is much here that they will enjoy. To the neophyte listener who has just discovered this style of music through these CD's, this set of live recordings (with introductions by Holly Hunter) will further entrance them into a world of noble, yet simple popular music. This CD is well worth buying and T Bone Burnett (and by extension the Coen brothers) should be congratulated for his heavy promotion of one of America's finest traditions - mountain music.

Having read the glowing reviews on Amazon, I picked this up, with high expectations and was let down by the lack of consistency of the music and the mediocre sound quality. Mind you, my criticisms have nothing at all to do with the musical genre - I love folk blues, blues, bluegrass, newgrass, etc. As an example, I'd prefer the Oh Brother version of "I Am Weary" to this live version and although "I'll Fly Away" comes across pretty well on this live version, I prefer the studio version on the Oh Brother soundtrack. I consider "Wild Bill Jones", "Blue and Lonesome", "John Law Burned Down the Liquor Store" and "I'll Fly Away" to be the only high points on this disc.

About the sound quality: Live albums can have exceptional sound but this one does not. For examples of excellent live sound, check out the Weavers at Carnegie Hall and you'll see that it was possible 40 years ago. I'm not trying to say that this disc has horrible sonics, just that they are lower quality than I expected. Modern engineers can pull off excellent live sound on classical (many examples), rock (Zappa and many others) or acoustic music (Hedges), so it's not a limitation of the medium. Maybe the hall this disc was recorded in is difficult to mic?

This isn't quite as good as the soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou, but that was a really high standard to meet, and this comes very close. In fact, I like the Fairfield Four's version of "Po Lazarus" on this better than the version on the first record. John Hartford's version of "Big Rock Candy Mountain" here, on the other hand, I don't like nearly as well.

But the reason to get this is for the songs that aren't on the other. "I Want to Sing that Rock and Roll" is particularly lovely and full of longing, but it's only a nose ahead of the rest of the songs, which are consistently good.

I really recommend this wholeheartedly if you liked the "O Brother" soundtrack. If you haven't heard that, get them both. If you didn't like it, I just don't know what to do with you.

This parallels the wonderful Oh, Brother CD {which I also have of course.} Now I'm waiting for both "Oh, Brother" and "Down From the Mountain" to be released on VHS. {This is getting expensive !!} I not only have all the Cox Family's four CD's, now I just have to have some of Gillian Welch's. That "Dear Someone" is very, very beautiful. Now I know why my lifelong love of country music was being disappointed by the sound-alike modern artists. Thank you T-Bone and Coehn Brothers for bringing this glorious music to America. !!!!

Is this as good as the soudtrack from the movie? YES! Is it the same? NO, but it is a truly amazing recording.

If you have purchased the soundtrack, as I have, and listen to it often, then this is more than just a companion piece but a wonderful recording in it's own right.

I have had the great fortune of seeing Gillian Welch & David Rawlings in concert and she is actually rather riveting for such an introspective performer. Her live work with partner David Rawlings is alone worth the price of this disk.

This concert has humor (just listing to this playful retelling of Po Lazarus), excellent musicianship and a terrific blend of new and traditional blugrass.

The sound is very good, not a flat live feeling, but a wonderful "you are there" sound. All the performances are first rate and obviously the performers are having a great time celebrating this neglected music, so much so that you will find yourself celebrating it, and them, as well.

Gillian Welch's "I Wanna Sing That Rock and Roll" is THE standout track of this very solid collection. In fact, it's probably better than anything on the "O Brother..." soundtrack - and that's saying something. This record, unlike "O Brother..." was recorded live. The fidelity is good, the performances are passionate and the track selection is dead on. What I especially like is that this record is not simply a live performance of the movie soundtrack. There are new tracks here (like Welch's), which compliment the songs that reprise their appearance from the soundtrack. This group of songs is not a sterile, rote recitation of "O Brother's" glory; its a natural progression into the past.

I had mistakenly got this cd as a gift and I was blown away on the first listen. I've owned it 2 months now and can't put it down. Even though I owned the sondtrack from O Brother, and some of the songs are repeats.. this cd is even better. Gillian Welch's I Want To Sing That Rock 'N Roll is superb. I am not a great fan of live albums, but this is fantastic.

This is 44 minutes from a 98 minute video. What you don't get includes the Peasall sisters' "In the Highways", Hartford's "Indian War Whoop", the beautiful, beautiful "Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby" (Harris, Krauss, Welch) and "Angel Band", the finale, sung by all the performers, and more. What you get is a pretty fair sampler but if you get the DVD, you will get the show, not just snips. So get the "O Brother" DVD and CD and the "Down From The Mountain" DVD but not this. There's really not that much overlap between them.