Troll
01-23-2006, 11:00am
The CD that changed country
By Ralph Berrier Jr.
Five years ago this month, a revolution rocked the country music charts. A band of renegades armed with mandolins and fiddles stormed the Billboard fortress and toppled country music's blow-dried royalty.
Though the coup was expected to be short-lived, the fiddlin' freedom fighters showed remarkable staying power. They earned fame, awards and money. And they weren't about to leave.
Five years have passed since the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack knocked the Stetson-shaped crown off the moussed heads of Nashville's elite. In January, 2001, the soundtrack of ridiculously untrendy traditional music from the subversively odd little Coen brothers saga defied the imagination of its makers and hit the top 10.
Looking back, it is easy to see that the album left a lasting mark not only on Nashville, but also on the business of bluegrass music and its performers, including a couple of Southwest Virginia boys, whose lives were changed irrevocably by the album's success. The soundtrack had a profound impact on all of Southwest Virginia, as well.
Ralph Stanley and Dan Tyminski probably had no idea that their participation in the recording would alter their careers. Stanley, a Dickenson County native who was already a bluegrass legend, won his first Grammy and gained an entirely new generation of fans. Tyminski, who lived in Ferrum at the time, was known only by those hard-core fans who knew his work with Alison Krauss and with the Lonesome River Band. After his Grammy-winning performance of the soundtrack's signature song, "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow," he became a highly sought singer among Nashville's superstars. He and his family now live in Music City, where they established a beachhead for their old Franklin County buddies, Ronnie Bowman and Tim Austin.
Bluegrass is still a fringe genre when it comes to overall music sales, but the form has been one of the few musical genres to grow its audience and increase CD sales. In this download-crazy era when CD sales are falling like January temperatures in Idaho, bluegrass has experienced triple-digit growth in total CD sales since 2000, according to the International Bluegrass Music Association. More than 8 million Americans bought a bluegrass CD in 2004, which is barely more people than bought Mariah Carey's last offering, but more than double the number of bluegrass lovers from five years earlier.
Bluegrass sales and festivals had grown steadily during the 1990s, but spiked precipitously after "O Brother." Even though the album was more 1930s-style folk collection than rock-solid bluegrass album, most of the soundtrack's performers were bluegrass stars. "O Brother" sold more than 5 million copies between its December 2000 release and its sweep of the 2002 Grammy Awards, when it claimed the best album trophy. Sales have increased by a few million more since then.
Its impact was especially felt in Virginia, which boasts a proud, unconquerable tradition of mountain music. Stanley and Tyminski saw their popularity (and paychecks) soar. The state launched the $2.5 million Virginia Heritage Music Trail tourism program that links the small-town music traditions of Virginia like pearls on a necklace. More than 60,000 visitors are expected to explore real mountain music along "The Crooked Road" in some of Virginia's most economically depressed areas.
One place that didn't do much to cash in on the bluegrass explosion, however, was Roanoke. Even though Roanoke regularly ranks as the national leader in per-capita spending on bluegrass CDs, the Star City never fully capitalized on its music history or on its status as the largest market in Southwest Virginia bluegrass country.
On the positive side, the Roanoke Bluegrass Weekend still attracts a slew of students desiring to learn from top-notch instructors. John Lawless of AcuTab, a Roanoke publisher of instructional videos and music books, organizes Roanoke Bluegrass Weekend and recently launched the Bluegrass Blog to keep fans updated with news and gossip (check out bluegrassblog.com).
The Wednesday night old-time fiddle jam at Mill Mountain Coffee and Tea on Campbell Avenue still creates a buzz. A bus load of Australian tourists showed up there last summer in search of real American music. Other than that, there aren't many opportunities for public jamming. Brooklyn, N.Y., has more bluegrass jams than Roanoke does.
Eventually, the bluegrass bubble could burst. It seems unlikely, though. No other bluegrass CD is going to sell 7 million copies like "O Brother" did, but we've known that.
The music's popularity grew in the '90s, exploded in the early '00s, now perks along as steady as a jam session. Elvis and the Beatles couldn't kill it, neither could Nashville's bubble-gum brigade. Five years after "O Brother," the tradition keeps adding new songs and stories.
http://www.roanoke.com/columnists/berrier/wb/49382
By Ralph Berrier Jr.
Five years ago this month, a revolution rocked the country music charts. A band of renegades armed with mandolins and fiddles stormed the Billboard fortress and toppled country music's blow-dried royalty.
Though the coup was expected to be short-lived, the fiddlin' freedom fighters showed remarkable staying power. They earned fame, awards and money. And they weren't about to leave.
Five years have passed since the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack knocked the Stetson-shaped crown off the moussed heads of Nashville's elite. In January, 2001, the soundtrack of ridiculously untrendy traditional music from the subversively odd little Coen brothers saga defied the imagination of its makers and hit the top 10.
Looking back, it is easy to see that the album left a lasting mark not only on Nashville, but also on the business of bluegrass music and its performers, including a couple of Southwest Virginia boys, whose lives were changed irrevocably by the album's success. The soundtrack had a profound impact on all of Southwest Virginia, as well.
Ralph Stanley and Dan Tyminski probably had no idea that their participation in the recording would alter their careers. Stanley, a Dickenson County native who was already a bluegrass legend, won his first Grammy and gained an entirely new generation of fans. Tyminski, who lived in Ferrum at the time, was known only by those hard-core fans who knew his work with Alison Krauss and with the Lonesome River Band. After his Grammy-winning performance of the soundtrack's signature song, "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow," he became a highly sought singer among Nashville's superstars. He and his family now live in Music City, where they established a beachhead for their old Franklin County buddies, Ronnie Bowman and Tim Austin.
Bluegrass is still a fringe genre when it comes to overall music sales, but the form has been one of the few musical genres to grow its audience and increase CD sales. In this download-crazy era when CD sales are falling like January temperatures in Idaho, bluegrass has experienced triple-digit growth in total CD sales since 2000, according to the International Bluegrass Music Association. More than 8 million Americans bought a bluegrass CD in 2004, which is barely more people than bought Mariah Carey's last offering, but more than double the number of bluegrass lovers from five years earlier.
Bluegrass sales and festivals had grown steadily during the 1990s, but spiked precipitously after "O Brother." Even though the album was more 1930s-style folk collection than rock-solid bluegrass album, most of the soundtrack's performers were bluegrass stars. "O Brother" sold more than 5 million copies between its December 2000 release and its sweep of the 2002 Grammy Awards, when it claimed the best album trophy. Sales have increased by a few million more since then.
Its impact was especially felt in Virginia, which boasts a proud, unconquerable tradition of mountain music. Stanley and Tyminski saw their popularity (and paychecks) soar. The state launched the $2.5 million Virginia Heritage Music Trail tourism program that links the small-town music traditions of Virginia like pearls on a necklace. More than 60,000 visitors are expected to explore real mountain music along "The Crooked Road" in some of Virginia's most economically depressed areas.
One place that didn't do much to cash in on the bluegrass explosion, however, was Roanoke. Even though Roanoke regularly ranks as the national leader in per-capita spending on bluegrass CDs, the Star City never fully capitalized on its music history or on its status as the largest market in Southwest Virginia bluegrass country.
On the positive side, the Roanoke Bluegrass Weekend still attracts a slew of students desiring to learn from top-notch instructors. John Lawless of AcuTab, a Roanoke publisher of instructional videos and music books, organizes Roanoke Bluegrass Weekend and recently launched the Bluegrass Blog to keep fans updated with news and gossip (check out bluegrassblog.com).
The Wednesday night old-time fiddle jam at Mill Mountain Coffee and Tea on Campbell Avenue still creates a buzz. A bus load of Australian tourists showed up there last summer in search of real American music. Other than that, there aren't many opportunities for public jamming. Brooklyn, N.Y., has more bluegrass jams than Roanoke does.
Eventually, the bluegrass bubble could burst. It seems unlikely, though. No other bluegrass CD is going to sell 7 million copies like "O Brother" did, but we've known that.
The music's popularity grew in the '90s, exploded in the early '00s, now perks along as steady as a jam session. Elvis and the Beatles couldn't kill it, neither could Nashville's bubble-gum brigade. Five years after "O Brother," the tradition keeps adding new songs and stories.
http://www.roanoke.com/columnists/berrier/wb/49382