In late 2000 the Coen Brothers commissioned T-Bone Burnett to score their upcoming film based on the story of Homer's grand Odyssey, and I'm sure they expected great things out of him. What they ended up getting was a #1 album and "Album Of The Year" at the 2002 Grammy's, (along with 2 others).
In the summer of 'ought 2 (2002 that is), I had the opportunity to do some manual labor for my friend John; he was remodeling his 18th century home and had decided the finishing touch would be a large, in-ground concrete fountain/hot tub. So, being that I had no experience building hot-tubs or anything of the sort, I was given all the back breaking labor; excavation being my main task. I probably spent 4 hours pounding earth with my trusty maddox before I decided to put some music on to help pass the time. Now John didn't have much in the way of a CD collection but he did have a burned copy of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack.
The soaring harmonies and catchy nature of the old timey songs made the album amazingly fun to sing along with even though I hadn't seen the movie. Being serenaded by the Soggy Bottom Boys as well as Alison Krauss, Harry McClintock, Norman Blake and others made time pass fairly quick in the back yard.
