Down From the Mountain

The O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack did for bluegrass and "old time mountain-style" music what The Harder They Come did for reggae. Lovingly captured on film here by cinema vérité legend D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, the authentic traditional and contemporary alt-country artists who contributed to that phenomenal bestseller gathered onstage in May, 2000, at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium for a stupendous concert. Suffice to say that if you loved the soundtrack, this exhilarating film will be sheer heaven, and if you are new to this music, you will be moved to add Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch and the Cox Family to your CD collection. Interviews and rehearsal footage set the stage (who knew that Emmylou Harris was a baseball fanatic?), after which "banjo picker and steamboat pilot" John Hartford (who died of cancer shortly after the filming) serves as the folksy master of ceremonies. Among several show-stopping highlights are the haunting "Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby" by sirens Harris, Welch and Krauss; the Cox's ethereal "Will There Be Any Stars," and the venerable Ralph Stanley's a capella "O Death." Highly recommended. (K. Lee Benson)