Down from the Mountain

O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?, the film by Joel and Ethan Coen (2000) based on Homer’s epic about Odysseus, is set in the south of the United States, in Mississippi. The music and numerous songs that were used for the film originate from this region. Many veterans of country and bluegrass, musical genres based on traditional North American music, collaborated on the film, alongside newcomers to the genre, turning the soundtrack into a great commercial success. Documentary filmmakers Pennebaker, Hegedus and Doob captured a concert and its preparations in May 2000 in Nashville, where a host of musical celebrities (including Emmylou Harris, John Hartford, Ralph Stanley and Alison Krauss) came together one more time. The film is an account of a musical party, celebrating in style the passion for this purely American music.