They aren't the only ones hoping to ride the soundtrack's dusty coattails. Rounder seems to issue new compilations almost weekly, sometimes even using Brother-redolent titles or covers--like O Sister!--to expose leading figures like Rhonda Vincent to a primed audience. A deluxe reissue of the landmark 1972 album some consider almost a Brother prequel, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's counterculture-meets-the-coots Will the Circle Be Unbroken, hit No. 10 at Amazon.com. Also contributing to nonurban renewal are mainstream crooners who've already returned to their Appalachian roots, such as Patty Loveless and Dolly Parton. A Skaggs-led tribute to Bill Monroe is on the country chart. Hit Nashville songwriter Jim Lauderdale will release his second album of duets with Stanley in May. The Dixie Chicks have cut an entire album of acoustic music--label to be determined. And George Jones just started in on a Southern gospel quartet-style project.
Burnett suggests newcomers go back to Brother's source material: "A good place to start would be to find the original artists who did the stuff on the record--Skip James, Jimmie Rodgers, the Carter Family....Getting into traditional American music is like becoming interested in wine. The vintages, the blends--it's a never-ending story."
But is Brother really a revolution or this year's pet rock? "I don't know that it's not a novelty," says Luke Lewis, president of Lost Highway, which released the soundtrack. "Not that it hasn't increased sales for a lot of artists--but if there's a musical cultural trend going on, it's toward a little more purity." Burnett also believes the sea change transcends genres. "I encourage people to not just think of it as renewed interest in bluegrass. I think there is a renewed interest in musicians playing music, as opposed to machines playing musicians."
(Additional reporting by Alanna Nash)
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