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(L-R) John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson and George Clooney in 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?'

(L-R) John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson and George Clooney in 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?'

Photo: Universal/Getty Images

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'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' At 20 o-brother-where-art-thou-20-year-anniversary

20 Years Ago, 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' Crashed The Country Music Party

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In honor of the 20-year anniversary of the GRAMMY-winning album, GRAMMY.com spoke to the creative minds behind the groundbreaking soundtrack, including T Bone Burnett, Dan Tyminski, Luke Lewis and others
Jim Beaugez
GRAMMYs
Dec 5, 2020 - 1:29 pm

The Coen Brothers' 2000 tragicomedy O Brother, Where Art Thou?, set in Mississippi during the Great Depression, pulls deeply from the early-20th century American songbook to drive the film's Homeric storyline, which entangles the lives of escaped convicts Delmar O'Donnell (Tim Blake Nelson), Pete Hogwallop (John Turturro) and Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney).

But while nearly all 19 tracks on the original soundtrack, released December 5, 2000, are once-popular songs enshrined in the Library of Congress, the music wasn't designed to be a hit outside the world of the Soggy Bottom Boys, the film's fictional band composed of the main characters. "Old-Time Music is Very Much Alive!" trumpets the faux Nashville Banner headline in the liner notes to the film's original soundtrack, "But you won't hear it on 'country' radio." 

The prophecy proved true. The popularity of O Brother, Where Art Thou? didn't help traditional music break into radio programmers' playlists—the single for "I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow" peaked at No. 35 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart—but it didn't matter. The soundtrack sold more than 8 million copies in the U.S., certified eight times platinum, and won Album Of The Year at the 44th GRAMMY Awards.

On that February evening in 2002, bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley stunned the audience at the Staples Center in Los Angeles with an a cappella performance of "O Death," a traditional folk song featured on the soundtrack, delivered by the then-73-year-old under a single spotlight in the middle of the darkened arena. (Stanley went on to win the Best Male Country Vocal Performance GRAMMY for the track that night.)

"Having Ralph Stanley stand on a stool in the middle of the room and sing 'O Death' was the pinnacle of my entire career," Luke Lewis, whose Lost Highway label released the soundtrack and who also led the Nashville operations of Mercury, MCA and UMG at various points, tells GRAMMY.com. "I was sitting with a bunch of f*cking gangster rappers who were completely blown away."

But the odyssey began long before a host of country, gospel and bluegrass ringers upturned the industry on music's biggest night—before the Coen Brothers even began filming, in fact.

In the spring of 1999, producer T Bone Burnett convened at Sound Emporium in Nashville with a who's who of roots musicians from the city's vibrant bluegrass scene, including Gillian Welch and Alison Krauss & Union Station, to put the song cycle to tape. Lewis, who was just beginning to assemble Lost Highway Records as a creative haven for roots artists like Lucinda Williams, caught wind of the sessions and went to investigate.

"I walked into that creative process when all that was going on, and the Coen Brothers are hanging, T Bone's in there," Lewis recalls. "All these amazing artists come in there and do the record old school, with a mic in the middle of the room."

Classics such as "I'll Fly Away," "You Are My Sunshine" and "In The Jailhouse Now"—the latter sung by actor Tim Blake Nelson—are rendered slower and lower than typical bluegrass interpretations. That was an intentional move, Burnett says, to capitalize on the bass response of the subwoofer-loaded sound systems in movie theaters.

"The first thing we did was stretch the sonic spectrum that bluegrass was ordinarily recorded in, which was very high—the banjo was high, the singing was high, the violins were high, the mandolins were high—and we lowered it a couple of octaves and approached it more as a rock 'n' roll album rather than a traditional bluegrass record."

While Krauss took lead vocals on "Down To The River To Pray," elsewhere collaborating with Welch and Emmylou Harris on "Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby," her Union Station guitarist Dan Tyminski was asked to audition for the cut of a lifetime: singing lead on "I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow," the hit Soggy Bottom Boys song "sung" by George Clooney in the film. 

"I was happy to do it, but I honestly didn't feel like it made a lot of sense," Tyminski remembers. "I didn't necessarily see myself sounding like Clooney's voice at the time, but it's hard to see from your own perspective what other people see or hear. So, I went back and auditioned the next day, and somehow [I] got it, and just couldn't have been more shocked at what would follow."

Read: 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' Soundtrack | For The Record

The brains behind the soundtrack were just as surprised when the film opened in France, prior to its stateside debut, and sold 70,000 copies of the album within a month. It was a hint of what was to come in the U.S. 

As the film's signature song, "I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow" helped drive the soundtrack to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200, where it spent 15 weeks during a 683-week run on the chart.

The song became Tyminski's calling card, but he almost didn't get to play it. After his version was done and filming had begun, Clooney himself asked to take a pass at the vocal. Tyminski went back to the studio on a day off from shooting and backed him on guitar.

For The Record: 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?'

"George is actually a really great singer and had learned the song well, and he sang a killer version of it," Burnett says. "But it didn't have the thrill in it that Dan's version had. And so I just said, 'This is great, but we're supposed to be making a movie about a hit record, and now we've got something that sounds like a hit record, so I think we should stick with that. What do you think?' And I think he was relieved, really."

Tyminski says the recording process also played a role in the decision to use his version. "It's not that he couldn't do the job," he says, "but for the sake of the movie, it had to be one take, live, no fixes. It was all really pure, all very organic. 

"After he had taken a couple of swings at it and got the words jumbled a couple of times, he says, 'Dan, I'll make you a deal: I'll act, you sing.' And quite honestly, I was so disappointed because I thought it was so cool to have recorded the song with Clooney. At the time, it felt like that was a bigger deal than singing the song myself. It wasn't until a little bit later that I realized what a loss that would have been. It ended up being the biggest song of my career, easily."

Read: Exclusive: Gillian Welch On Vinyl, Songwriting, 'O Brother...' & More

Tracking down the writers of songs composed nearly a century earlier proved to be an enormous job for Burnett and Denise Stiff, who managed Welch and Union Station. The songs were recorded and re-recorded over the decades, and many versions were unique enough to support their own copyrights. That meant when Burnett used or rewrote an arrangement, they had to determine which previous version of the song was closest and credit the right people. 

"'Man Of Constant Sorrow' has, I think, 50 copyrights in the Library Of Congress," Burnett says. "The one we worked with most closely was The Stanley Brothers' version. Even though we had done our own arrangement, we could've gotten sued by 50 people for infringement."

The version of "I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow" recorded for the film earned Tyminski a GRAMMY for Best Country Collaboration With Vocals at the 2002 GRAMMYs. In addition to the Album Of The Year win, the soundtrack also won for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For A Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media, while T Bone Burnett won for Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical.

Two decades later, it's hard to say what lasting impact the success of O Brother, Where Art Thou? made on contemporary country music, or popular music in general. The widespread acclaim for the film and soundtrack is undeniable, and they both made gobs of money. But it could be argued—and Burnett does—that a revival of roots music was already underway when it all hit. 

"The reason I think it was so successful [was] because, one, there was already a very strong traditional music trend," Burnett says. "Kids were learning how to do it."

So-called "alt-country" bands like Wilco and Old 97's were impacting the lower rungs of industry charts, along with Jayhawks, Whiskeytown and others. Bluegrass trio Nickel Creek had hooked up with Krauss and released their 2000 self-titled, platinum-selling album, while bluegrass-adjacent bands Old Crow Medicine Show and The Avett Brothers were beginning to make names for themselves on the touring circuit. 

"Certainly, country radio didn't change, and you wish for things like that to happen," Lost Highway founder Lewis says. "But it makes you aware that there's a wider world than what you hear on mainstream radio, and for a lot of people who really love music, you need something to lead you down the path because it's hard to find guideposts to things you might like. I think O Brother had that sort of impact."

There's another reason, too, Burnett suggests. On the night of the 2002 GRAMMYs, Americans were still reeling from the September 11 terrorist attacks that took place just five months earlier. Tony Bennett and Billy Joel sang a duet on "New York State Of Mind," a nod to the resilience of the city amid tragedy. Alan Jackson performed "Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)" in front of children's art created in reaction to the attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. And in the middle of it all, Ralph Stanley stood on the GRAMMY stage, alone and vulnerable, pleading with his maker, "Won't you spare me over for another year?"

"Art responds to events without the artists meaning to at all," Burnett says. "The Beatles weren't responding to Kennedy's assassination, and yet everything about The Beatles felt like the thing that we needed the most after the Kennedy assassination. People were looking for our identity as Americans. Why did we get hit like this? Who were we?"

While the music of O Brother, Where Art Thou? offered millions of Americans the comfort of nostalgia, it impacted others in more material ways.

"It did amazing things for the artists that were involved," Lewis says. "All of a sudden, they were going on the road and making 10 times what they made before the record came out. They got royalty payments that they probably didn't ever dream of."

Mississippi-born singer James Carter had forgotten about the day in September 1959 when Alan Lomax recorded him singing "Po Lazarus" at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman until producers tracked him down in Chicago to present him with a platinum record plaque and a $20,000 royalty check for his performance. The 76-year-old former convict even attended the GRAMMY Awards that night, though he could barely remember recording the song.

In the years that followed, Tyminski recalls that the demographics of Union Station shows began to swing younger than before: more rock T-shirts, more spiked haircuts. He also remembers the rousing applause for the song that George Clooney, as Ulysses Everett McGill, sang into a can in the film's pivotal recording scene.

"From that point forward, that song was in every single show that we did," Tyminski says. "But when you have a song that's been that good to you and that people identify with and they want to hear, shame on you if you're not willing to play that song for the rest of your life."

How 1995 Became A Blockbuster Year For Movie Soundtracks

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Daft Punk at the world premiere of 'TRON: Legacy' in 2010

Daft Punk at the world premiere of 'TRON: Legacy' in 2010

Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/WireImage

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Daft Punk's 'Tron: Legacy' At 10 daft-punk-tron-legacy-10-year-anniversary

'Tron: Legacy' At 10: How Daft Punk Built An Enduring Soundtrack

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Released December 3, 2010, the soundtrack album pushed Daft Punk's music to new, exciting places and underscored the duo's prowess with live instrumentation
Gabriel Aikins
GRAMMYs
Dec 6, 2020 - 12:57 pm

In December 2010, The Walt Disney Company took a chance—the kind only a business can take when they're the most powerful entertainment conglomerate in the world. They took Tron—a 1982 film about the world and programs living inside computers that enjoyed a dedicated, if small, cult following—and gave it a sequel. Tron: Legacy brought back original star Jeff Bridges, alongside fresh faces Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde, to revisit the film's computer world of "The Grid" with the help of some much-updated digital effects. 

As a film, Tron: Legacy was a mixed bag at the time, earning a modest, by Disney's standards, $400 million over its theatrical run. The movie garnered praise for its impressive visuals, while drawing criticism toward some questionable acting—and even more questionable de-aging effects on Bridges. Ten years on, many aspects of Tron: Legacy hold up quite well, especially its soundtrack, composed by none other than French electronic music duo, Daft Punk. 

By 2010, Daft Punk were already legends in the electronic music community. The duo, composed of producers Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, had three studio albums under the belt across a career that was nearing its second decade by then, but each release showcased the meticulous genius of their craft. So, too, was their artist persona well-set, with their signature robotic helmets and gloves and their aversion to interviews combining to craft an enigmatic aura around them that only heightened their mythical status. 

One only needs to look at the singles the group charted throughout the decades to understand the vast breadth of Daft Punk's skill and musical knowledge. "Da Funk," off their 1997 debut album, Homework, naturally draws from the groovy basslines and percussions of funk. The shimmering "Face To Face," off Discovery (2001), incorporates disco into the mix, and the undeniable "One More Time," from the same album, mashes sampled horns, jubilant dance music rhythms and French house music into a track that remains a foundational piece of electronic music in the 21st century. 

Even with that amount of range and expertise, it was no sure thing from either side to have Daft Punk compose the film's soundtrack. In one of the few interviews the duo gave about Tron: Legacy, Bangalter told The Hollywood Reporter that director Joe Kosinski had reached out to them all the way back in 2007, with no script in hand to reference. "We were on tour at that time, and it took almost a year to decide whether we had the desire and the energy to dive into something like that," Bangalter recalled. 

As well, there was initial hesitation from Disney to give the duo free rein. Another interview with the Los Angeles Times revealed that the original plan was to pair Daft Punk with a much more traditional and established film composer like Hans Zimmer. Instead, the final product saw Daft Punk forging ahead largely on their own, and the results speak for themselves.

A conversation about the artistry within the Tron: Legacy soundtrack has to mention the original 1982 Tron soundtrack. Composed by Wendy Carlos, a pioneering electronic musician and composer, it planted the seeds for Daft Punk. While the original soundtrack is largely a traditional symphonic score, Carlos did incorporate synths where she could, like on mid-movie track, "Tron Scherzo." Even where she didn't, the physical instruments mirrored the chimes and notifications of a computer system, as in the intro to "Water, Music, and Tronaction." Daft Punk took these concepts and ran with them.

It's evident from the intro of Tron: Legacy's "Overture" how the duo innately understands the sounds they're working with and how they operate within the world of Tron. Instead of drawing from French house or club music, they pull from the sounds of an actual computer. The low thrum in the opening seconds sounds like a system booting up, and the lone horn delivering the main melodic line instantly connects this soundtrack with the original. The duo told the Los Angeles Times that the original film captivated them, and these direct links back to it prove they did their homework. 

Read: 20 Years Ago, 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' Crashed The Country Music Party

Each track Daft Punk created stands on its own without the film. The cascading synth building with a sense of urgency on "Son Of Flynn" is prime Daft Punk in its understanding of tempo and musical momentum. "Derezzed," played in the film's neon club scene—in which the duo make a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo as the DJs—is an electronic dance track through and through. "Adagio For Tron" is a moving, sorrowful ode to a fallen hero, with a minor key and just a hint of a synth beat under the orchestral rise.

Altogether, the production across the soundtrack is topnotch. Moments like the live percussion blending into the synths in "The Game Has Changed" show a great understanding of both film scoring as well as the concept of bridging technology and humanity, a central theme in the film.

Much of Daft Punk's approach to Tron: Legacy is rooted in a darker, more ominous sound, which is a major reason why the soundtrack and the movie both still resonate today: They're decidedly more cynical and pessimistic than the original. Tron arrived at the dawn of widespread home computing, and both the film and its soundtrack embody the optimism of what technology could do for the average person. In 2010, things were vastly different. Mass data collection, security hacks and stolen information, social media toxicity, and disinformation spread were the name of the game; it's only gotten worse over time. 

Consequently, Tron: Legacy is cynical in its view and appropriately more sinister in its aesthetic, an approach Daft Punk heightened with their soundtrack. "Rinzler," the theme for one of the film's main villains, drips with menace from its abrasive percussion and moody synths. Even "Flynn Lives" and "Finale," two of the tracks at the end of the movie where the heroes emerge triumphantly, are more subdued than a typical climactic piece, with horns that fade quickly and quiet string sections taking their place.

2010 was a high-water mark for popular artists stepping into film music, with Daft Punk's Tron: Legacy soundtrack and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' The Social Network score dropping in the same year. Still, the influence has been felt periodically on film scores since. Sucker Punch (2011) leaned heavily into dance and electronica in its cover album soundtrack, and Arcade Fire provided a futuristic tilt to Her (2013). For its part, Disney clearly learned the right lesson when it came to pairing a visionary film with an equally visionary artist: On the Black Panther soundtrack album (2018), Kendrick Lamar married his music with the film's fictional world of Wakanda, an approach extremely similar to what Daft Punk created on Tron: Legacy.

Read: Daft Punk, 'Random Access Memories': For The Record

Daft Punk, too, learned some things they took to heart. The integration of more live instrumentation within their production, an understanding and homage of music that came before, and the challenge to explore new genres resulted in something truly special: the duo's 2013 album, Random Access Memories. It's a disco album that switched gears heavily to include more live instruments than Bangalter and de Homem-Christo had ever used in their own material before, and included direct tributes to electronic music legends like Giorgio Moroder. (The duo's magnum opus, Random Access Memories won the coveted Album Of The Year honor at the 56th GRAMMY Awards in 2014.) And each of these new elements can be traced to the work they started on Tron: Legacy.

It's fitting that Tron: Legacy and its soundtrack released in December. The cold winter matches the darkness of The Grid and the tired cynicism of what technology can achieve. But December is also so close to the start of a new year, to the hope of something different and to the promise to do more and to do better. On Tron: Legacy, Daft Punk reached deep into their knowledge to push their music to new, exciting places. It still endures as a testament to their craft 10 years later.

How 1995 Became A Blockbuster Year For Movie Soundtracks

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T Bone Burnett holds the 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' vinyl soundtrack

T Bone Burnett

Photo: Rachel Murray/WireImage.com

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For The Record: 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' o-brother-where-art-thou-soundtrack-record

'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' Soundtrack | For The Record

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Learn more about the hit soundtrack to the 2000 Coen Brothers' film and its unique place in GRAMMY history
Tim McPhate
GRAMMYs
Dec 7, 2017 - 12:11 pm

Sometimes, the marriage of music to a film is so brilliantly executed that it's impossible to imagine that film without said music.

For The Record: 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?'

That's certainly the case with the 2000 Coen Brothers' film, O Brother, Where Art Thou? With loose parallels to Homer's "Odyssey," the film is set in Depression-era rural Mississippi in 1937, with the plot centering three convicts, including Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney), who escape from a chain gang and journey homeward to get their hands on some stolen bank money.

T Bone Burnett, a musician's musician, was tapped to produce the soundtrack designed to feature bluegrass, country, gospel, blues, and folk music to appropriately represent the time period. The result is a stunningly fun collection of songs that ably supports the film's offbeat comedy.

Enlisting an all-star collective, Burnett churned out an authentic mix of sterling tracks, including Alison Krauss' angelic reading of the traditional "Down To The River To Pray"; Norman Blake's uplifting "You Are My Sunshine"; Chris Thomas King's rootsy "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues"; Ralph Stanley's bone-chilling "O Death"; and Krauss, Gillian Welch and Emmylou Harris teaming for another traditional song, "Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby."

Not only did the soundtrack top the Billboard 200 album chart, it emerged a big winner at the 44th GRAMMY Awards in 2002. The 19-song set took Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For A Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media honors, while Burnett scooped up Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical and Stanley earned took Best Male Country Vocal Performance for "O Death."

O Brother, Where Art Thou? Wins Album Of The Year

The cherry on top of the proverbial sundae? Following Saturday Night Fever and The Bodyguard, the O Brother …. soundtrack became just the third film soundtrack to win the coveted Album Of The Year GRAMMY.

"This version of this epic had a happy ending of sorts, and then one happy ending after another," said Burnett during his acceptance. "But not even minds as elliptical as the Coen Brothers could have written this ending."

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Ed Helms (R) performs with Margo Price

Ed Helms (R) performs with Margo Price

Photo: Elli Lauren Photography

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Ed Helms Talks New Show "Whiskey Sour Happy Hour" facing-lockdown-ed-helms-spreading-joys-americana-bluegrass-and-comedy-his-whiskey

Facing Lockdown, Ed Helms Is Spreading The Joys Of Americana, Bluegrass And Comedy With His "Whiskey Sour Happy Hour" Online Series

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With the help of special guests and beloved artists from the wider American roots community, the famed actor and established musician is combining his love of music, humor and humans to help raise funds for MusiCares and Direct Relief
John Ochoa
MusiCares
May 4, 2020 - 11:33 am

In mid-March, famed actor and comedian Ed Helms was busy working on his new TV show "Rutherford Falls," an upcoming comedy series, scheduled to debut on NBCUniversal's Peacock streaming service, in which he was set to write, co-executive produce and star. The writing for the show had begun, and he and his team were on course to begin production around the third week of the month. Then on March 19, at the height of the early coronavirus pandemic scare, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a sweeping statewide stay-at-home order, essentially shutting down the state, including the Hollywood entertainment complex. Helms was stuck, but he wasn't down for the count.

Now quarantined inside his Los Angeles home with his wife and young child—"We're on toddler watch all the time," he says—Helms is keeping very busy while facing his own version of the "new normal" taking shape around the world. The writers' room for his new show has gone completely virtual since the California lockdown. His production company, Pacific Electric Picture Company, is juggling multiple projects in development. And all day long, he's taking phone calls and video Zoom meetings. Lots and lots of Zoom meetings. 

Still, even with a stacked schedule and a curious toddler eating up his time, Helms felt he needed to do his part to help those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. So he did what he does best: He strapped on his guitar, turned on the camera and started singing and cracking jokes.

It's all part of "Whiskey Sour Happy Hour," Helms' newly launched limited web series benefiting MusiCares' COVID-19 Relief Fund and Direct Relief. Launched April 22, the online variety show, streaming every Wednesday now through May 13, invites some of the leading and emerging artists from the wider American roots community to perform intimate shows directly from their homes. (Of course, the show also features hilarious cameos from some of Helms' comedy friends.)

The first two episodes featured big-name artists like Lee Ann Womack, Ben Harper, Yola and Billy Strings, among others, while future guests include Rosanne Cash, Langhorne Slim, Mandy Moore, Rhiannon Giddens & Francesco Turrisi, Valerie June and more. 

Hosted each week by Helms, a vocal advocate of bluegrass and American roots music and culture and a master banjo player, "Whiskey Sour Happy Hour" is his way of bringing a smile to fellow fans and newcomers during these troubling times.

"I think that what makes the show really fun to watch is the really warm and benevolent energy of these musicians," Helms tells the Recording Academy. "They're just some of the most wonderful people. That is a big part of who we want to showcase, just because we want the show to feel good and to be a really positive experience for anyone."

Amy Reitnouer Jacobs echoes the sentiment. As the co-founder and executive director of The Bluegrass Situation, Helms' own bluegrass- and roots-centric music and lifestyle website and the show's presenting partner, she's worked with the comedy giant to build out the show's diverse lineup week after week. She likens the task of curating an eclectic artist roster to "a beautiful chess game." 

"At the beginning of this process, I was just so happy to be putting my creative energies into a good cause and over the moon to be raising money for these two amazing charities and supporting our artistic community at the same time," she tells the Recording Academy via email. "But over the past few weeks, I've also recognized how rapidly our industry is changing and how different everything is going to look over the next couple of months. It's clear that the way we present and intake live music is going to be one of the biggest paradigm shifts, long after shelter-in-place orders are lifted. So maybe in some small way, what we're starting here can continue to build in the hope of working toward a new, or at least temporary, norm."

The Recording Academy chatted with Ed Helms to discuss the benevolent vision behind "Whiskey Sour Happy Hour," his dream lineup for the show and the new creative challenges, and benefits, he's facing while working in quarantine.

How are you, man?

I am doing really pretty well, all things considered. I'm feeling pretty lucky that my family is healthy, and I'm staying pretty busy.

Speaking of your family, have you or your family been impacted directly by the COVID-19 pandemic?

Yes. I had a TV show about to start production. It's [now] completely on pause except for the writing. So now our writers' room has gone virtual, and that's been an adjustment, but thankfully a successful one. We're getting a lot of work done. My immediate family is all healthy, which I'm extraordinarily grateful for. But I have some very close friends dealing with some really tough situations and it's ... been a bit of a ... reality check or something.

In terms of "Whiskey Sour Happy Hour," how long did the show take to come together, from idea to actual series?

[Laughs] Really fast ... I think part of the emotional toll of this quarantine is a real feeling of impotence ... Amy [Reitnouer Jacobs, co-founder and executive director of The Bluegrass Situation] and I were talking about what we could do. [With] The Bluegrass Situation being a music entity, MusiCares felt like a really natural fit. I hosted their gala a couple of years ago. I'm a big fan of that organization. And then more directly on the medical front, Direct Relief was also just a no-brainer because they're doing incredible work [to make] sure frontline workers are properly protected and supplied.

But then the question was, "Well, how do we do it?" Well, let's just leverage our resources and our network and try to do something that'll get some attention and draw some viewership and then ask for money. And then from that conversation to actually putting it together—Amy started booking the music acts right away, and our first episode was up maybe two weeks later.

Things got really scary in the U.S. in mid-March, with the pandemic and shutdown starting to spread throughout the country last month. "Whiskey Sour Happy Hour" launched April 22. Was there a moment or event that truly sparked the show and pushed you to launch it and get involved?

The Bluegrass Situation is lucky to have a lot of relationships and access to great musicians, and we just wanted to do something. This just sort of gelled as the idea. But as soon as the lockdown happened, it was clear.

If you're looking for that inflection point, I think it would be really when all the news was flooding in about how overwhelmed Italy was and just what we were seeing around the world. So many countries and communities in so much pain and struggling just to deal with this thing, and a feeling that it was right around the corner for all of us here in the United States, and that there's just a need to try to help.

What do you and Amy look for when you're putting together these artist and guest lineups?

I think that what makes the show really fun to watch is the really warm and benevolent energy of these musicians. They're just some of the most wonderful people. That is a big part of who we want to showcase, just because we want the show to feel good and to be a really positive experience for anyone. So it's just people who are great, who also play great music, if I had to summarize it.

Read: Cosmic Americana Duo Mapache On 'From Liberty Street,' Honoring Neal Casal & (Briefly) Going Electric

Has it been difficult to get artists and guests to participate in the show?

Not at all. People are so eager to jump onboard and pitch in. Honestly, it's so moving to me [to see] the eagerness that people bring to it and just the enthusiasm. And people are putting a lot of time into these segments. They're shooting themselves in their homes and just getting really great recordings and great performances. I don't know if you've watched the last two episodes, but they just feel so personal and natural and intimate. I've been just incredibly moved by all the participation.

I wasn't sure how it would feel to watch people do a show like this, where people are just playing by themselves and shooting themselves in their homes and at a very lo-fi way. But when I watch the episodes, there's an immediacy there. There's an intimacy to these performances that I think is incredibly special and charming and endearing and uplifting. It's turned out better than I could have hoped. It's so, so fun to do, and I think it helps everyone feel invigorated to be part of a communal effort and a community that's trying to help.

https://twitter.com/edhelms/status/1250503240275292161

ANNOUNCING: #WhiskeySourHappyHour!! I'm hosting an online music variety show to raise money for @musicares and @directrelief. Tune in every Wednesday, starting 4/22 at 5p PDT / 8p EDT and DONATE! pic.twitter.com/zV5s8ik3AC

— Ed Helms (@edhelms) April 15, 2020

While the bluegrass and American roots music community may not be huge, it does seem tight-knit. Have you seen the bluegrass and roots community banding together during this crisis?

Yeah. Our show is just one example. I think there are so many performers out there that are raising money in all different kinds of ways and supporting each other. We don't pretend to be the definitive voice of Americana, roots—we're just proud to be part of a larger community.

I agree with you. [The community] doesn't have quite the scale of some other music genres, but I think it makes up for that in a really exciting and dynamic vibe internally.

Do you see yourself extending the show beyond the May 13 window? Is this something you would perhaps expand after the quarantine and pandemic?

Well, it's a little early to know. It's a lot of work, and I still have a lot of other projects churning in the background as an actor and producer. But I'll just say this: I love doing this. It has been incredibly fun and meaningful to me, so I think anything is possible.

Besides producing "Whiskey Sour Happy Hour," how are you spending your time in quarantine?

I have a two-and-a-half-year-old, so we're on toddler watch all the time. I have a TV show that's going to be on [NBCUniversal's streaming service] Peacock, and we were supposed to start production the week of the quarantine, so that has paused. But the writing of that TV series is still going full speed ahead. I'm in writing meetings multiple days a week, and those are very long meetings in the virtual writers' room.

Then my production company, Pacific Electric Picture Company, we just have a ton of projects in development and at various stages, and so that's a process of keeping up with scripts and giving notes and lots and lots of phone calls and Zoom meetings. So there's plenty going on, and it's been an adjustment and quite a rapid learning curve trying to figure out how to juggle all this.

But [it] seems to be going really well. Like I said, I couldn't be happier with how "Whiskey Sour Happy Hour" has turned out and the kind of production pipeline that we're still figuring out, but it seems to be dialing in. It's obviously a very simple production, but we just want to make it as good as we can. We're learning as we go [and] trying to have some fun, too.

Has the quarantine or the pandemic affected your creativity or how you approach your art and various projects?

I think working from home on all these things has been both a challenge and a little bit of an exciting stimulant for me, creatively. Whether it's writing a TV show or shooting these little interstitials for "Whiskey Sour Happy Hour," I'm so used to just being in a room with other people [and] collaborating on these things. That produces a certain kind of result that I'm very used to. But being by myself and really just having to crank a lot of this stuff out on my own, it's exhilarating.

A lot of times I wish I had someone to bounce some things off of in a more immediate way before I commit to them. [Laughs] But I don't, so you just have to power through. I think it's an exciting challenge. I do firmly believe that necessity is the mother of invention, and this new paradigm is forcing everyone to be innovative and creative in new ways. It's a terrible situation, but there are some interesting and beautiful things emerging out of it.

Who would be your dream guest(s) to book on "Whiskey Sour Happy Hour"?

I mean, we have a dream lineup. I'm just so overjoyed with everyone that we've got. It's funny because I immediately go to bands. I think of bands like Del McCoury or The Infamous Stringdusters or Steep Canyon Rangers or so many more. But bands can't perform together right now.

So we're kind of having to readjust how we approach booking ... And not every artist wants to perform without their band, or if they're a part of a band. There's nothing that's not happening that I wish were happening on these shows. I think we have unbelievable lineups, and I'm super proud of how it's all coming together. That's a nonanswer for you. [Laughs]

The Rebellious Brilliance Of Lucinda Williams

Caroline Jones

Caroline Jones

 

Photo: Courtesy of Caroline Jones

 
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Quarantine Diaries: Caroline Jones quarantine-diaries-caroline-jones-working-her-sophomore-album-meditating-exploring-new

Quarantine Diaries: Caroline Jones Is Working On Her Sophomore Album, Meditating & Exploring New Zealand

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As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rock the music industry, GRAMMY.com reached out to musicians to see how they were spending their days off the road
GRAMMYs
Nov 11, 2020 - 1:57 pm

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rock the music industry, GRAMMY.com reached out to a few musicians to see how they were spending their days indoors. Today, Caroline Jones shares her Quarantine Diary. Her latest single, "All of the Boys," is out now.

[6:30 a.m.] Wake-up rituals. I love to wake up early so I have a few hours to meditate and exercise or do Egoscue postural therapy. My physical and mental health are both of utmost importance to me, and my health/wellness routine is designed for optimal energy that I can then devote to my creativity. I also love to walk in nature, daily if possible, or at least spend some time outdoors in some sort of surrounding greenery. I have been quarantining and working on new music in New Zealand for the past few months, so there is a lot of magical scenery to take in. 

GRAMMYs

[10:00 a.m.] Vocal warm-up. The voice is a muscle, and I consider myself an athlete. Singing, just like producing, songwriting and playing instruments, is a craft that I am constantly honing. I am a classically trained vocalist; I grew up singing opera and jazz. I typically need 45-60 minutes of vocal exercises to feel really warmed up, whether going in the studio or on stage. For those interested, the vocal exercises I have been doing for decades are on my YouTube channel. 

GRAMMYs

[11:30 a.m.] Studio time. My team and I have been conducting remote recording sessions while I am here in New Zealand for a few months. The technology is staggering and the execution has been remarkable, thanks to the team at Roundhead Studios in Auckland, New Zealand, and my team in America: Ric Wake, my co-producer, Gustavo Celis, engineer and mixer, and Jorge Stelling, assistant engineer. We have redundant communication between Audio Movers, Zoom and Gus running Pro Tools in real time from Miami through TeamViewer. Whew! I get tired just thinking about it. But it's been working beautifully and we are able to continue the momentum of my second album! 

GRAMMYs

[2:30 p.m.] Tracking with the Trenwiths. New Zealand being [almost] COVID-free, once I arrived here I was eager to engage in the in-person musical connection I have been missing this year. As anyone who follows me knows, I am always open and excited to dip my toes in the waters of different styles of music. I researched The Hamilton County Bluegrass Band, which is a more-than-50-year-old institution here in New Zealand, and of which Paul Trenwith is a founding member. We were able to get in touch with Paul and begin jamming with him, mandolinist Keith MacMillan, and Paul's sons, Sam and Tim, who together are known as the Trenwiths. 

GRAMMYs

The Trenwiths and I recorded two Christmas songs (dropping Nov. 20!), stomping down-home bluegrass style at Neil Finn's famous Roundhead Studios. We are now working on a full set to livestream, and hopefully, we will also record a few traditional folk songs. It's hard to put into words how truly down-to-earth, genuine and funny this family band is, but hopefully, folks will feel it in the music we have made thus far and see it in the accompanying videos. We are having an absolute blast!

Caroline Jones

[5:30 p.m.] Overdubs. When my team and I are not tracking with the Trenwiths, we are completing overdubs on songs for my forthcoming second album (expected early 2021). We tracked most of the album in Nashville in August with an A-list band, and now I am tweaking vocals, singing stacks of harmonies, and overdubbing guitars, banjo, dobro, keys, etc. I absolutely love the process of producing and arranging, and I love challenging myself as a musician in the studio. 

An example is my current single "All of the Boys," which I co-wrote with my good friend and mentor Zac Brown and co-produced with Ric Wake. I have the utmost respect for the talents and expertise of producers, engineers and studio musicians. I have been obsessed with the craft of record making since I first stepped into a Nashville session with Mac McAnally in my early 20s. 

GRAMMYs

[7:00 p.m.] Adventuring in New Zealand. Typically, after a workday, we will cook or go out for dinner, then wind down and go to sleep! However, on weekends or days off, I have been blessed to adventure in this extraordinarily beautiful country. In the past month, I have found myself in some of the most remote, beautiful and otherworldly settings I have ever seen, by driving just one or two hours outside of Auckland. Piha and Raglan break have some of the world's best surfing; see picture below—not of me surfing, but playing guitar on the beach, ever true to form. We also went camping at South Head on a completely deserted beach. It was magical. 

GRAMMYs

[10:30 p.m.] Bedtime. What an inspiring time in my life this is for me—to have the opportunity to create, write and adventure in a country 10,000 miles [away] from my home! I am soaking in every moment of it. 

GRAMMYs

Quarantine Diaries: REYNA Is Making A Dia De Los Muertos Ofrenda, Picking Up Exercising & Promoting "7'11"

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Some of the content on this site expresses viewpoints and opinions that are not those of the Recording Academy. Responsibility for the accuracy of information provided in stories not written by or specifically prepared for the Academy lies with the story's original source or writer. Content on this site does not reflect an endorsement or recommendation of any artist or music by the Recording Academy.