Editor's Note: No Depression is thrilled to reshare this deep-dive into the history and legacy of the film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, originally commissioned for its 20th anniversary. Five years later, the recently relaunched Lost Highway record label reissued a special edition, double gatefold LP on "You Are My Sunshine"-colored yellow vinyl. Additionally, T Bone Burnett and Lost Highway will present an live, tribute celebration of the soundtrack at the Grand Ole Opry on February 28th, as part of the historic organization's centennial celebration.
The year 2000 was an absolutely dizzying time to be a music fan. Intricately constructed boy bands and hyper-objectified teen divas ruled radio, MTV, and record sales, with the top two best-selling albums of the year being NSYNC’s No Strings Attached (9.9 million copies) and Britney Spears’ Oops! ... I Did It Again (8.8 million copies). Three of the year’s Top 5 charting singles (Madonna’s “Music,” U2’s “Beautiful Day,” and Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life”) were from seasoned artists who many critics accused of hitting their commercial peaks sometime in the 1980s. Plus, much like they surprised everyone in the mid-1990s with their expansive Anthology project, The Beatles once again offered a new release — their compilation of No. 1 singles, sensibly titled 1 — that immediately became a pop cultural juggernaut, selling more than 31 million copies worldwide and earning the distinction of being the single best-selling album of the entire 2000s in the United States.
Sneaking into this perplexing musical environment like a drop of water into an oil spill was the soon-to-be-legendary soundtrack to the Coen Brothers film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this month. While the album would make a surprisingly long run to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200, win almost a half dozen Grammy awards, and eventually be certified 8x platinum, it initially appeared as an eclectic anomaly among the new millennium’s forward-leaning pop stars.
