Three years ago, the soundtrack to "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" tapped into the American roots music psyche, igniting a phenomenon that included two Grammy Awards (Best Soundtrack and Best Album), a stay atop the Billboard 200 chart, more than four million copies sold and a tour in support of the album that featured the album's contributors.
Though the plot of "Cold Mountain" is far removed from that of "O Brother," the soundtrack to "Cold Mountain" uses the same traditional/bluegrass theme as well as mentions the same producer as "O Brother" (T Bone Burnett) to successfully match the movie's time period.
Garage rocker Jack White of the White Stripes contributes vocals and guitar to four traditional songs and one original ("Never Far Away") that he wrote exclusively for the movie. (White has a small role in "Cold Mountain" as a musician.) The songs White performs on the soundtrack sound stunningly authentic, especially considering they bear absolutely no resemblance to the minimalist blues rock of the White Stripes.
White's voice is suited perfectly to the opening "Wayfaring Stranger," where he is backed by the magnificent interplay of acclaimed banjoist Dick Powell and mandolin player Norman Blake.
White is equally strong on the rest of his tracks, most notably "Sittin' On Top of the World" and "Never Far Away."
Other highlights of the soundtrack include bluegrass living legend Alison Krauss' cover of Elvis Costello's "The Scarlet Tide," in which her magically sweet voice is accompanied by just a piano and a fiddle. "I'm Going Home," a powerful gospel song performed by the Sacred Harp Singers at Liberty Church, is also a standout.
The soundtrack also includes four orchestral tracks, composed by Gabriel Yared ("The English Patient"), which are not nearly as original or interesting as the traditional songs.
Aside from those four tracks, the "Cold Mountain" soundtrack has few flaws. Only time will tell if the album achieves the same success as the "O Brother" soundtrack, but T Bone Burnett has again put together a first-rate collection of contemporary American roots music, and that itself is an achievement.
