Béla Fleck came away the big winner at Thursday night’s 33rd annual International Bluegrass Music Association awards in Raleigh, North Carolina, winning Album of the Year for My Bluegrass Heart. The banjo virtuoso also won Instrumental Group of the Year, Banjo Player of the Year, and Instrumental Recording of the Year.
“Things grow and they change,” Fleck tells Rolling Stone backstage at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh. “You are just part of an evolution, and you just have to do your best to...
“Things grow and they change,” Fleck tells Rolling Stone backstage at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh. “You are just part of an evolution, and you just have to do your best to...
- 9/30/2022
- by Garret K. Woodward
- Rollingstone.com
Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, and Dolly Parton were among the names called when the 33rd annual Ibma Bluegrass Music Awards were announced on Tuesday in Nashville. Strings will compete in six categories, Tuttle in five, and Parton in two when the 2022 IBMAs are held Sept. 29 at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Strings and Tuttle compete against each other in four categories: Guitar Player of the Year, Album of the Year, Instrumental Group of the Year, and the top prize of Entertainer of the Year.
Strings and Tuttle compete against each other in four categories: Guitar Player of the Year, Album of the Year, Instrumental Group of the Year, and the top prize of Entertainer of the Year.
- 7/26/2022
- by Joseph Hudak
- Rollingstone.com
Robert Plant is highly amused by Paul McCartney’s dubbing the Rolling Stones “a blues cover band,” perhaps in part because his own old band faced similar criticism. “I don’t think there’s any fighting,” he says in the new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now. “They’ve known each other since 1963. They love each other desperately.” Still, if there’s any animus, he knows how to resolve it: McCartney, he says, “should just play bass with the Stones.”
The singer was joined on this episode by Alison Krauss,...
The singer was joined on this episode by Alison Krauss,...
- 11/24/2021
- by Brian Hiatt
- Rollingstone.com
Teenage Fanclub have released a new song, “The Sun Won’t Shine on Me,” from their upcoming album, Endless Arcade, out April 30th via Merge.
“The Sun Won’t Shine on Me” is graceful song written by Norman Blake that’s filled with twinkling guitar lines and rich vocal harmonies that give off a distinct Sixties folk vibe. “With a troubled mind I am in decline,” Blake sings on the bittersweet chorus, “And the sun won’t shine on me/With a troubled mind I am in decline/And the...
“The Sun Won’t Shine on Me” is graceful song written by Norman Blake that’s filled with twinkling guitar lines and rich vocal harmonies that give off a distinct Sixties folk vibe. “With a troubled mind I am in decline,” Blake sings on the bittersweet chorus, “And the sun won’t shine on me/With a troubled mind I am in decline/And the...
- 3/15/2021
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
Tony Rice, the bluegrass guitarist and vocalist known for his elegant, innovative flatpicking, died Friday at his home in Reidsville, North Carolina. He was 69. Rice’s death was confirmed by the International Bluegrass Music Association, which inducted him into its Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2013.
Born David Anthony Rice in Virginia on June 8th, 1951, Rice learned about bluegrass from his father, an amateur musician who raised his family in Los Angeles, and Tony’s older brother Larry Rice, who played mandolin. When Tony was 20, he joined his sibling as...
Born David Anthony Rice in Virginia on June 8th, 1951, Rice learned about bluegrass from his father, an amateur musician who raised his family in Los Angeles, and Tony’s older brother Larry Rice, who played mandolin. When Tony was 20, he joined his sibling as...
- 12/27/2020
- by Joseph Hudak
- Rollingstone.com
Tony Rice, a flatpicking guitarist considered one of the giants of bluegrass, has died at 69 on December 25, according to a Facebook post by his former label, Rounder Records.
“We were all deeply saddened by the news of Tony Rice’s sudden passing on Christmas Day, and we offer our deepest condolences to his loved ones and his many fans. May he Rest In Peace,” said the Rounder note. Rice was known for his skill as a flatpicker, an intricate, fast-paced, melodic style of guitar playing. His work was an influence on his genre, and extended to the likes of Jason Isbell and Steve Martin. Born in California in1951, he relocated to Kentucky as an adult. There he became immersed in bluegrass, playing five nights a week with J.D. Crowe and the New South. His first album came in 1973, simply titled Guitar. There followed 1978’s Acoustics and 1980’s Mar West with the Tony Rice Unit.
“We were all deeply saddened by the news of Tony Rice’s sudden passing on Christmas Day, and we offer our deepest condolences to his loved ones and his many fans. May he Rest In Peace,” said the Rounder note. Rice was known for his skill as a flatpicker, an intricate, fast-paced, melodic style of guitar playing. His work was an influence on his genre, and extended to the likes of Jason Isbell and Steve Martin. Born in California in1951, he relocated to Kentucky as an adult. There he became immersed in bluegrass, playing five nights a week with J.D. Crowe and the New South. His first album came in 1973, simply titled Guitar. There followed 1978’s Acoustics and 1980’s Mar West with the Tony Rice Unit.
- 12/27/2020
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Teenage Fanclub return with their new song “Home,” the first single and opening song off the Scottish rockers’ upcoming album Endless Arcade.
The new LP, the band’s first since 2016’s Here, arrives March 5th via Merge Records. To preview the album, Norman Blake and company have shared the single version of the catchy, inviting “Home”; while the single edit fades out before the four-minute mark, the studio take continues on for another three minutes, “its coda has been saved for the record’s release day,” Merge said.
Endless Arcade,...
The new LP, the band’s first since 2016’s Here, arrives March 5th via Merge Records. To preview the album, Norman Blake and company have shared the single version of the catchy, inviting “Home”; while the single edit fades out before the four-minute mark, the studio take continues on for another three minutes, “its coda has been saved for the record’s release day,” Merge said.
Endless Arcade,...
- 11/11/2020
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Long renowned for a faithful adherence to the Appalachian folk music tradition in many of their solo works as well as their collaborations as a duo, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings have announced the release of All The Good Times, a 10-track sampling of acoustic cover songs.
Recorded at home on a reel-to-reel tape machine, the album — released to streaming on Friday — features the works of legendary songwriters including Bob Dylan (“Señor,” “Abandoned Love”), John Prine (“Hello in There”), Elizabeth Cotton (“Oh Babe It Ain’t No Lie”) and Norman Blake...
Recorded at home on a reel-to-reel tape machine, the album — released to streaming on Friday — features the works of legendary songwriters including Bob Dylan (“Señor,” “Abandoned Love”), John Prine (“Hello in There”), Elizabeth Cotton (“Oh Babe It Ain’t No Lie”) and Norman Blake...
- 7/10/2020
- by Stephen L. Betts
- Rollingstone.com
Johnny Cash wanted to make a big impression when his ABC music variety show The Johnny Cash Show debuted on June 6th, 1969. The back-to-back success of his recent live albums At Folsom Prison and At San Quentin re-introduced him to a mainstream audience outside of the country community, and this was a chance to greatly expand on that at a time when everything on network TV attracted millions of viewers.
Four months earlier, Cash spent the day recording with Bob Dylan at Columbia Studio A in Nashville, though only their...
Four months earlier, Cash spent the day recording with Bob Dylan at Columbia Studio A in Nashville, though only their...
- 6/25/2019
- by Andy Greene
- Rollingstone.com
Teenage Fanclub tap into a krautrock vibe on their new song “Everything is Falling Apart,” their first release since the departure of founding bassist-singer Gerard Love. Guitarist Raymond McGinley fronts the track, singing hazy lines over wafts of clean electric guitars and a steady rhythm section. “I don’t know what’s real,” he admits. “I’ve only just opened my eyes.”
The Scottish quintet promoted the single with a straightforward video documenting their recording sessions, cycling between tightly composed shots of group handclaps, vibrating bass strings and effects pedal stomps.
The Scottish quintet promoted the single with a straightforward video documenting their recording sessions, cycling between tightly composed shots of group handclaps, vibrating bass strings and effects pedal stomps.
- 2/20/2019
- by Ryan Reed
- Rollingstone.com
Bluegrass stalwart Tim O’Brien will release a new album in 2019. Nodding to the prevalence of bluegrass bands named for their leader, Tim O’Brien Band (out March 15th) will be its namesake’s first full-length album since 2017’s Where the River Meets the Road.
Featuring O’Brien’s touring mates Mike Bub, Shad Cobb, Jan Fabricius and Patrick Sauber, the new album features O’Brien performing songs by Norman Blake (“Last Train From Poor Valley”) and Woody Guthrie, whose political “Pastures of Plenty” deals with the plight of migrant workers in the U.
Featuring O’Brien’s touring mates Mike Bub, Shad Cobb, Jan Fabricius and Patrick Sauber, the new album features O’Brien performing songs by Norman Blake (“Last Train From Poor Valley”) and Woody Guthrie, whose political “Pastures of Plenty” deals with the plight of migrant workers in the U.
- 1/16/2019
- by Jon Freeman
- Rollingstone.com
“Few players have changed the way we hear an instrument the way Earl has, putting him in a category with Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Chet Atkins and Jimi Hendrix.”
Those words, penned by actor, comedian, author and banjo player Steve Martin, appeared in a New Yorker tribute following the 2012 death of legendary picker and Country Music Hall of Fame member Earl Scruggs, who revolutionized the three-finger style of banjo playing that now most commonly is referred to by his surname. Scruggs, who would have turned 95 years old on January 6th,...
Those words, penned by actor, comedian, author and banjo player Steve Martin, appeared in a New Yorker tribute following the 2012 death of legendary picker and Country Music Hall of Fame member Earl Scruggs, who revolutionized the three-finger style of banjo playing that now most commonly is referred to by his surname. Scruggs, who would have turned 95 years old on January 6th,...
- 1/11/2019
- by Stephen L. Betts
- Rollingstone.com
Legendary songwriter and musician John Hartford, who came into millions of homes each week playing banjo on the highly rated Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour from 1969 to 1972, forged his own Grammy-winning career as a versatile session musician, unique lyricist and compelling storyteller on hits like “Gentle on My Mind.” Now, a collection of vintage Hartford cuts dating from 1965 to 1969, including 19 previously unreleased tracks, will be available with Backroads, Rivers & Memories — The Rare & Unreleased John Hartford, due March 1st via Real Gone Music.
A sideman on such influential LPs as the Byrds...
A sideman on such influential LPs as the Byrds...
- 1/8/2019
- by Stephen L. Betts
- Rollingstone.com
As many of you readers know, I've been a fan of Cineplexx for years. Their latest single -- "Te Quiero"-- is an infectious "afrofunk" tune lifted from their new album Florianopolis. Cineplexx is actually the Argentina-born, London-based Sebastian Litmanovich. His smart indie pop-rock features collaborations with Jad Fair (Half Japanese), Duglas Stewart & BMX Bandits, Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub), Nigel Baillie (Camera Obscura), Cathy Claret, Lilies on Mars, Ally Kerr, Federico Aubele, Natalia Clavier, Daniel Melero, Wechsel Garland, Montag, Lupe Nuñez (Amor de Dias), Yushimi, to name but a few. Buy it today!
- 5/16/2014
- by Dusty Wright
- www.culturecatch.com
By Sean O’Connell
Hollywoodnews.com: Joel and Ethan Coen’s cult comedy “The Big Lebowski” received a ton of press last week due to a Blu-ray release of the film and a star-studded Q-and-a held in New York City on the film’s behalf. Get Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi and Julianne Moore together on one stage, and it’s going to make headlines.
But today, another Coen Brothers masterpiece is making news. “O Brother Where Art Thou?,” the filmmakers’ odyssey through the Depression-era South, is releasing a two-disc, anniversary edition of its Grammy winning soundtrack, and the disc reportedly will feature 12 tracks that didn’t make the cut the first time around.
While the soundtrack is best known for its version of Dick Burnett’s “Man of Constant Sorrow” (covered by George Clooney and the Soggy Bottom Boys), it also boasts fantastic bluegrass staples handpicked by the brothers and T. Bone Burnett.
Hollywoodnews.com: Joel and Ethan Coen’s cult comedy “The Big Lebowski” received a ton of press last week due to a Blu-ray release of the film and a star-studded Q-and-a held in New York City on the film’s behalf. Get Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi and Julianne Moore together on one stage, and it’s going to make headlines.
But today, another Coen Brothers masterpiece is making news. “O Brother Where Art Thou?,” the filmmakers’ odyssey through the Depression-era South, is releasing a two-disc, anniversary edition of its Grammy winning soundtrack, and the disc reportedly will feature 12 tracks that didn’t make the cut the first time around.
While the soundtrack is best known for its version of Dick Burnett’s “Man of Constant Sorrow” (covered by George Clooney and the Soggy Bottom Boys), it also boasts fantastic bluegrass staples handpicked by the brothers and T. Bone Burnett.
- 8/22/2011
- by Sean O'Connell
- Hollywoodnews.com
For his work in Teenage Fanclub, Scotland's Norman Blake is an indie rock icon. The same goes for Welsh songwriter Euros Childs, the former leader of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci. But the legacies they've built during the last two decades apparently don't satisfy the artistic drives that made them musicians in the first place; Jonny, their casual duo affair the two convened in order to write enough songs for a self-made single, recently released its self-titled debut through Merge Records. Full of inescapable melodies, humor and elliptical lyrics, Jonny is a 40-minute spree meant for a spring drive and, at times, the dance party you find at the end of it.
Download the new single, "You Was Me," here, and watch the nature-day video above. We spoke with Blake in Japan just before the start of Jonny's first tour there and after a 36-hour whirlwind of travel for two Teenage Fanclub shows in Brazil.
Download the new single, "You Was Me," here, and watch the nature-day video above. We spoke with Blake in Japan just before the start of Jonny's first tour there and after a 36-hour whirlwind of travel for two Teenage Fanclub shows in Brazil.
- 5/18/2011
- by Grayson Currin
- ifc.com
On March 26, several musicians will come together to pay tribute to Alex Chilton of Big Star roughly one year after his death. Among the artists performing Third/Sister Lovers will be Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake, Big Star’s Jody Stephens, Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan, db’s Chris Stamey and others. The show, which will take place at Baruch College’s Mason Hall, will follow up a performance of the record last December in Carrboro, N.C....
- 3/25/2011
- Pastemagazine.com
Long-running Scots deliver more pop purity Even after two decades as a band, it has to be intimidating when Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake brings in another hook-laden pop masterpiece, and then Gerard Love or Raymond McGinley have to offer something that matches up. Like a world-class pitching rotation, nobody wants to be the guy to give up all the runs and blow a winning streak. And so nothing about Shadows, the band’s 10th outing (and eighth since Bandwagonesque, the grunge-era classic that briefly turned the Big Star-loving Scots into flavors-of-the-month), should surprise longtime fans of their impeccable craftsmanship. If the...
- 6/8/2010
- Pastemagazine.com
First, there was the film, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" And the film begot a soundtrack. And the soundtrack begot a concert. And the concert begot another film. And that film begot another soundtrack. And so on.
You can't accuse the Coen brothers of neglecting the synergy involved in their use of classic American bluegrass and country music in their recent film. Featuring such performers as bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, The Fairfield Four, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Chris Thomas King, Norman Blake and the late John Hartford, the soundtrack has become one of the biggest surprise hits of the year. This film -- by the documentary team of Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, and D.A. Pennebaker, and executive produced by T-Bone Burnett (the album producer) and the Coen brothers -- documents a concert at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium in May 2000 featuring music from "O Brother". It is playing an exclusive theatrical engagement at New York's Screening Room.
Mixing onstage performances by the various artists with backstage interviews in which they discuss their music and their involvement with "O Brother", "Down From the Mountain", while it offers many stirring musical performances, doesn't stand out either as a concert film or an enlightening documentary. The musical segments are filmed in lackluster style, with little of the flair or excitement of the better concert films ("The Last Waltz", etc.). The backstage sequences are not particularly enlightening, and the interviews lack depth.
Still, the film is valuable if only for its recording of a group of great and sadly unappreciated American musicians who have toiled far too long in relative obscurity. Watching Stanley perform a stark, a cappella version of the mournful "O Death", Hartford comically warble through "Big Rock Candy Mountain" or the Cox Family raising chills with their rendition of "I Am Weary", one is vividly reminded of the utter triviality of most modern-day popular music.
DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN
Cowboy Booking International
Directors:Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, D.A. Pennebaker
Executive producers:T-Bone Burnett, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Producers:Bob Neuwirth, Frazer Pennebaker
Cinematographers:Joan Churchill, Jim Desmond, Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, Bob Neuwirth, Jehane Noujaim, D.A. Pennebaker, John Paul Pennebaker
Editors:Nick Doob, D.A. Pennebaker
Color/stereo
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
You can't accuse the Coen brothers of neglecting the synergy involved in their use of classic American bluegrass and country music in their recent film. Featuring such performers as bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, The Fairfield Four, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Chris Thomas King, Norman Blake and the late John Hartford, the soundtrack has become one of the biggest surprise hits of the year. This film -- by the documentary team of Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, and D.A. Pennebaker, and executive produced by T-Bone Burnett (the album producer) and the Coen brothers -- documents a concert at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium in May 2000 featuring music from "O Brother". It is playing an exclusive theatrical engagement at New York's Screening Room.
Mixing onstage performances by the various artists with backstage interviews in which they discuss their music and their involvement with "O Brother", "Down From the Mountain", while it offers many stirring musical performances, doesn't stand out either as a concert film or an enlightening documentary. The musical segments are filmed in lackluster style, with little of the flair or excitement of the better concert films ("The Last Waltz", etc.). The backstage sequences are not particularly enlightening, and the interviews lack depth.
Still, the film is valuable if only for its recording of a group of great and sadly unappreciated American musicians who have toiled far too long in relative obscurity. Watching Stanley perform a stark, a cappella version of the mournful "O Death", Hartford comically warble through "Big Rock Candy Mountain" or the Cox Family raising chills with their rendition of "I Am Weary", one is vividly reminded of the utter triviality of most modern-day popular music.
DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN
Cowboy Booking International
Directors:Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, D.A. Pennebaker
Executive producers:T-Bone Burnett, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Producers:Bob Neuwirth, Frazer Pennebaker
Cinematographers:Joan Churchill, Jim Desmond, Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, Bob Neuwirth, Jehane Noujaim, D.A. Pennebaker, John Paul Pennebaker
Editors:Nick Doob, D.A. Pennebaker
Color/stereo
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
First, there was the film, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" And the film begot a soundtrack. And the soundtrack begot a concert. And the concert begot another film. And that film begot another soundtrack. And so on.
You can't accuse the Coen brothers of neglecting the synergy involved in their use of classic American bluegrass and country music in their recent film. Featuring such performers as bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, The Fairfield Four, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Chris Thomas King, Norman Blake and the late John Hartford, the soundtrack has become one of the biggest surprise hits of the year. This film -- by the documentary team of Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, and D.A. Pennebaker, and executive produced by T-Bone Burnett (the album producer) and the Coen brothers -- documents a concert at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium in May 2000 featuring music from "O Brother". It is playing an exclusive theatrical engagement at New York's Screening Room.
Mixing onstage performances by the various artists with backstage interviews in which they discuss their music and their involvement with "O Brother", "Down From the Mountain", while it offers many stirring musical performances, doesn't stand out either as a concert film or an enlightening documentary. The musical segments are filmed in lackluster style, with little of the flair or excitement of the better concert films ("The Last Waltz", etc.). The backstage sequences are not particularly enlightening, and the interviews lack depth.
Still, the film is valuable if only for its recording of a group of great and sadly unappreciated American musicians who have toiled far too long in relative obscurity. Watching Stanley perform a stark, a cappella version of the mournful "O Death", Hartford comically warble through "Big Rock Candy Mountain" or the Cox Family raising chills with their rendition of "I Am Weary", one is vividly reminded of the utter triviality of most modern-day popular music.
DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN
Cowboy Booking International
Directors:Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, D.A. Pennebaker
Executive producers:T-Bone Burnett, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Producers:Bob Neuwirth, Frazer Pennebaker
Cinematographers:Joan Churchill, Jim Desmond, Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, Bob Neuwirth, Jehane Noujaim, D.A. Pennebaker, John Paul Pennebaker
Editors:Nick Doob, D.A. Pennebaker
Color/stereo
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
You can't accuse the Coen brothers of neglecting the synergy involved in their use of classic American bluegrass and country music in their recent film. Featuring such performers as bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, The Fairfield Four, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Chris Thomas King, Norman Blake and the late John Hartford, the soundtrack has become one of the biggest surprise hits of the year. This film -- by the documentary team of Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, and D.A. Pennebaker, and executive produced by T-Bone Burnett (the album producer) and the Coen brothers -- documents a concert at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium in May 2000 featuring music from "O Brother". It is playing an exclusive theatrical engagement at New York's Screening Room.
Mixing onstage performances by the various artists with backstage interviews in which they discuss their music and their involvement with "O Brother", "Down From the Mountain", while it offers many stirring musical performances, doesn't stand out either as a concert film or an enlightening documentary. The musical segments are filmed in lackluster style, with little of the flair or excitement of the better concert films ("The Last Waltz", etc.). The backstage sequences are not particularly enlightening, and the interviews lack depth.
Still, the film is valuable if only for its recording of a group of great and sadly unappreciated American musicians who have toiled far too long in relative obscurity. Watching Stanley perform a stark, a cappella version of the mournful "O Death", Hartford comically warble through "Big Rock Candy Mountain" or the Cox Family raising chills with their rendition of "I Am Weary", one is vividly reminded of the utter triviality of most modern-day popular music.
DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN
Cowboy Booking International
Directors:Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, D.A. Pennebaker
Executive producers:T-Bone Burnett, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Producers:Bob Neuwirth, Frazer Pennebaker
Cinematographers:Joan Churchill, Jim Desmond, Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, Bob Neuwirth, Jehane Noujaim, D.A. Pennebaker, John Paul Pennebaker
Editors:Nick Doob, D.A. Pennebaker
Color/stereo
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
First, there was the film, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" And the film begot a soundtrack. And the soundtrack begot a concert. And the concert begot another film. And that film begot another soundtrack. And so on.
You can't accuse the Coen brothers of neglecting the synergy involved in their use of classic American bluegrass and country music in their recent film. Featuring such performers as bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, The Fairfield Four, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Chris Thomas King, Norman Blake and the late John Hartford, the soundtrack has become one of the biggest surprise hits of the year. This film -- by the documentary team of Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, and D.A. Pennebaker, and executive produced by T-Bone Burnett (the album producer) and the Coen brothers -- documents a concert at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium in May 2000 featuring music from "O Brother". It is playing an exclusive theatrical engagement at New York's Screening Room.
Mixing onstage performances by the various artists with backstage interviews in which they discuss their music and their involvement with "O Brother", "Down From the Mountain", while it offers many stirring musical performances, doesn't stand out either as a concert film or an enlightening documentary. The musical segments are filmed in lackluster style, with little of the flair or excitement of the better concert films ("The Last Waltz", etc.). The backstage sequences are not particularly enlightening, and the interviews lack depth.
Still, the film is valuable if only for its recording of a group of great and sadly unappreciated American musicians who have toiled far too long in relative obscurity. Watching Stanley perform a stark, a cappella version of the mournful "O Death", Hartford comically warble through "Big Rock Candy Mountain" or the Cox Family raising chills with their rendition of "I Am Weary", one is vividly reminded of the utter triviality of most modern-day popular music.
DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN
Cowboy Booking International
Directors:Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, D.A. Pennebaker
Executive producers:T-Bone Burnett, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Producers:Bob Neuwirth, Frazer Pennebaker
Cinematographers:Joan Churchill, Jim Desmond, Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, Bob Neuwirth, Jehane Noujaim, D.A. Pennebaker, John Paul Pennebaker
Editors:Nick Doob, D.A. Pennebaker
Color/stereo
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
You can't accuse the Coen brothers of neglecting the synergy involved in their use of classic American bluegrass and country music in their recent film. Featuring such performers as bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, The Fairfield Four, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Chris Thomas King, Norman Blake and the late John Hartford, the soundtrack has become one of the biggest surprise hits of the year. This film -- by the documentary team of Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, and D.A. Pennebaker, and executive produced by T-Bone Burnett (the album producer) and the Coen brothers -- documents a concert at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium in May 2000 featuring music from "O Brother". It is playing an exclusive theatrical engagement at New York's Screening Room.
Mixing onstage performances by the various artists with backstage interviews in which they discuss their music and their involvement with "O Brother", "Down From the Mountain", while it offers many stirring musical performances, doesn't stand out either as a concert film or an enlightening documentary. The musical segments are filmed in lackluster style, with little of the flair or excitement of the better concert films ("The Last Waltz", etc.). The backstage sequences are not particularly enlightening, and the interviews lack depth.
Still, the film is valuable if only for its recording of a group of great and sadly unappreciated American musicians who have toiled far too long in relative obscurity. Watching Stanley perform a stark, a cappella version of the mournful "O Death", Hartford comically warble through "Big Rock Candy Mountain" or the Cox Family raising chills with their rendition of "I Am Weary", one is vividly reminded of the utter triviality of most modern-day popular music.
DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN
Cowboy Booking International
Directors:Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, D.A. Pennebaker
Executive producers:T-Bone Burnett, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Producers:Bob Neuwirth, Frazer Pennebaker
Cinematographers:Joan Churchill, Jim Desmond, Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, Bob Neuwirth, Jehane Noujaim, D.A. Pennebaker, John Paul Pennebaker
Editors:Nick Doob, D.A. Pennebaker
Color/stereo
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 6/26/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
First, there was the film, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" And the film begot a soundtrack. And the soundtrack begot a concert. And the concert begot another film. And that film begot another soundtrack. And so on.
You can't accuse the Coen brothers of neglecting the synergy involved in their use of classic American bluegrass and country music in their recent film. Featuring such performers as bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, The Fairfield Four, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Chris Thomas King, Norman Blake and the late John Hartford, the soundtrack has become one of the biggest surprise hits of the year. This film -- by the documentary team of Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, and D.A. Pennebaker, and executive produced by T-Bone Burnett (the album producer) and the Coen brothers -- documents a concert at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium in May 2000 featuring music from "O Brother". It is playing an exclusive theatrical engagement at New York's Screening Room.
Mixing onstage performances by the various artists with backstage interviews in which they discuss their music and their involvement with "O Brother", "Down From the Mountain", while it offers many stirring musical performances, doesn't stand out either as a concert film or an enlightening documentary. The musical segments are filmed in lackluster style, with little of the flair or excitement of the better concert films ("The Last Waltz", etc.). The backstage sequences are not particularly enlightening, and the interviews lack depth.
Still, the film is valuable if only for its recording of a group of great and sadly unappreciated American musicians who have toiled far too long in relative obscurity. Watching Stanley perform a stark, a cappella version of the mournful "O Death", Hartford comically warble through "Big Rock Candy Mountain" or the Cox Family raising chills with their rendition of "I Am Weary", one is vividly reminded of the utter triviality of most modern-day popular music.
DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN
Cowboy Booking International
Directors:Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, D.A. Pennebaker
Executive producers:T-Bone Burnett, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Producers:Bob Neuwirth, Frazer Pennebaker
Cinematographers:Joan Churchill, Jim Desmond, Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, Bob Neuwirth, Jehane Noujaim, D.A. Pennebaker, John Paul Pennebaker
Editors:Nick Doob, D.A. Pennebaker
Color/stereo
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
You can't accuse the Coen brothers of neglecting the synergy involved in their use of classic American bluegrass and country music in their recent film. Featuring such performers as bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, The Fairfield Four, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Chris Thomas King, Norman Blake and the late John Hartford, the soundtrack has become one of the biggest surprise hits of the year. This film -- by the documentary team of Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, and D.A. Pennebaker, and executive produced by T-Bone Burnett (the album producer) and the Coen brothers -- documents a concert at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium in May 2000 featuring music from "O Brother". It is playing an exclusive theatrical engagement at New York's Screening Room.
Mixing onstage performances by the various artists with backstage interviews in which they discuss their music and their involvement with "O Brother", "Down From the Mountain", while it offers many stirring musical performances, doesn't stand out either as a concert film or an enlightening documentary. The musical segments are filmed in lackluster style, with little of the flair or excitement of the better concert films ("The Last Waltz", etc.). The backstage sequences are not particularly enlightening, and the interviews lack depth.
Still, the film is valuable if only for its recording of a group of great and sadly unappreciated American musicians who have toiled far too long in relative obscurity. Watching Stanley perform a stark, a cappella version of the mournful "O Death", Hartford comically warble through "Big Rock Candy Mountain" or the Cox Family raising chills with their rendition of "I Am Weary", one is vividly reminded of the utter triviality of most modern-day popular music.
DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN
Cowboy Booking International
Directors:Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, D.A. Pennebaker
Executive producers:T-Bone Burnett, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Producers:Bob Neuwirth, Frazer Pennebaker
Cinematographers:Joan Churchill, Jim Desmond, Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, Bob Neuwirth, Jehane Noujaim, D.A. Pennebaker, John Paul Pennebaker
Editors:Nick Doob, D.A. Pennebaker
Color/stereo
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 6/20/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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