While evading the law in their Odyssey to find a hidden treasure, the trio of Pete (John Turturro), Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson), and Ulysses (George Clooney) unexpectedly recorded a folk/bluegrass hit with “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow”. After encountering the legendary Tommy Johnson (Chris Thomas King), they join Johnson to record a song at a local recording studio to try to raise some cash. The song is a traditional folk song, originally published by partially blind fiddler Dick Burnett in 1913. The most famous recording, before the Soggy Bottom Boys’ version, was from The Stanley Brothers in 1950. O Brother, Where Art Thou? music producer T Bone Burnett originally pitched using The Stanley Brothers’ version in The Big Lebowski, but it transferred over to O Brother, and it was decided it would be a cover version. George Clooney was initially going to sing lead, but there was not enough time to train him to convincingly sing a folk/country song, so Dan Tyminski sang lead with Harley Allen and Pat Enright. The song became a chart hit with the release of the film, hitting #35 on the Hot Country charts and being nominated for a CMA award and a Grammy. You can listen to the song below.
