Editor's Note: Annie Zaleski has been awarded one of two No Depression Criticism Fellowships to write in-depth album reviews on roots music's most important albums. Read her previous review of Willie Nelson's Dream Chaser here, and stay tuned for more from both No Depression Criticism Fellows all year long.
At the 44th Annual Grammy Awards in early 2002, Gillian Welch gathered with Emmylou Harris and Alison Krauss around one microphone to sing an a cappella version of “Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby.” Welch introduced it as, “kind of a lullaby and a field holler,” based on a traditional sung by Sidney Hemphill Carter and captured by Alan Lomax in 1959. The sparse arrangement and the trio’s close harmonies were otherworldly; their voices possessed solemn reverence. After Dr. Ralph Stanley recited a haunting version of "O Death,” Welch was back onstage adding vocals alongside a larger group to another rousing traditional, “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow.”
All three songs were recorded for the soundtrack of the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, which was up for two awards at the show. Written, produced, and directed by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen, the movie paralleled Homer’s The Odyssey — albeit if the epic was set in the American South during the 1930s and co-starred George Clooney. Accordingly, the soundtrack was integral to the plot and aesthetic of O Brother, Where Art Thou?, focused on "all traditional American music of the period that the movie takes place in,” Joel Coentold the Associated Press.
Defying the odds, the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack won the Grammy for Album of the Year later that night. This win was just the latest milestone for the collection: It also reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart and, at the time of the Grammys, was weeks away from being certified five-times platinum in the US.
Somewhat more quietly, Welch herself was also up for a Grammy that night in the category of Best Contemporary Folk Album for her third LP, 2001’s Time (The Revelator). Though she lost to Bob Dylan’s Love and Theft, the acknowledgement illustrated Welch’s heightened reputation at the time. She had released two solo albums produced by T Bone Burnett in the late 1990s before Time (The Revelator). But the commercial and critical response to the latter was far beyond anything she had experienced before. The album appeared on multiple year-end lists in the US and UK and received several Americana Music Awards nominations.
The runaway success of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack certainly boosted Welch’s mainstream standing. But Time (The Revelator) was also part of a back-to-basics musical trend percolating in the early 2000s. Artists such as The White Stripes and Neko Case released albums indebted to early blues and country artists. This wasn’t Appalachian appropriation; instead, these albums took great care to honor early musical influences while staying true to contemporary lyricism.
Perhaps this trend was a sort of digital fatigue from the Y2K-driven fear that the world’s electronics systems would collapse with the date change; a post-O Brother yearning for something simpler after the maximalist pop, rock and country sounds of the late 1990s; or comfort during a time of global turmoil. But vintage music that emphasized lyrical storytelling and genuine vocals possessed mass appeal and Welch reaped the benefits.
