There is an important difference between this movie and O Brother, Where Art Thou?
in the music. The same earnestness that infuses Songcatcher s story also leads to a very simple, authentic, and in some ways more scholarly presentation of the music, as performed by excellent musicians like Iris Dement, Taj Mahal, Don Pedi, Sheila Kay Adams, Josh Goforth, including a tag-team performance of Conversation with Death by David Patrick Kelley, Bobby McMillan and Hazel Dickens. • Much of this, though alas not all, is available on the soundtrack CD. Being a soundtrack, it had to include the orchestral bits composed by David Mansfield (the director s husband) and only a few of the pieces I remembered and liked from the movie. Furthermore, to fill it out, they added songs in the spirit of by artists like Dolly Parton. The orchestral bits and modern songs are not bad, but also are not what I feel like listening to when I pop an old-time music CD in my machine. • Worst of all, the young woman who played the-girl-who-helps-out-around-the-school, Emmy Rossum who has a wonderful vo
