Come to the Mountain

When Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? came out in 2000, there was a noticeable surge of interest in what is frequently called "Old Time Music." Call it a little bit folk, a little bit bluegrass, call it hillbilly or whatever: audiences whose tastes were piqued by the Oh Brother soundtrack have been able to find plenty more where those tunes came from. With Come to the Mountain: Old Time Music for Modern Times, Rounder Records goes back to the well and offers a twenty-two track musical sampler of musical artists like Putnam String Country Band, Corey Harris, Mac Benford & the Woodshed All-Stars, Alison Krauss, Dry Branch Fire Squad, Norman Blake, and many others.

From solo numbers featuring nothing more than a the plaintive wail of a banjo and a singer's lonesome vocal accompaniment (in Dirk Powell's "Hop High My Lulu Gal") to more robust musical arrangements, Come to the Mountain tries to present listeners with the full flavor of old-time music. Putnam String Country Band, a quartet from upstate New York, has three songs represented: the title track, along with "Perilous Journey" and the ballad "Black Jack Davey." Dirk Powell, who has performed with a diverse array of pop stars (such as Sting and Jewel), also played banjo on the soundtrack of such films as Cold Mountain and Bamboozled. Corey Harris was featured in Martin Scorsese's documentary Feels Like Coming Home; he is an archivist of black traditional artists and is at the forefront of the revival of the blues. Harris's two songs, "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground" and "Station Blues," are moody, atmospheric pieces that reflect how blues, folk, and bluegrass often overlap and intersect.

Mac Benford and the Woodshed All-Stars offer two songs: "Willow" and "River of Sorrow." Marie Burns' haunting vocals drift along with the easy melody on these songs. Alison Krauss, who is frequently described as the greatest crossover artist in bluegrass history, and has won more Grammy awards than any other female artist, joins with Ron Black on the romantic duet "Your Heart has Found a Home." Together with Union Station, she also performs "There is a Reason," which is the final track on the album and a worthy "encore" number. "Amazing Grace" is performed here as a harmonica duet, while the ever-entertaining Dry Branch Fire Squad perform a lively piece, "Walking back to Richmond."

Article Author: Bill Wallo

Bill Wallo is a book and movie junkie.

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