Gillian Welch: Am I Bluegrass?

A black Mercedes S.U.V. recently whizzed past me with its stereo blasting, of all things, the bluegrass song “Big Rock Candy Mountain.” Such is the bizarre reach of the surprise platinum-selling soundtrack to the Coen brothers’ O Brother, Where Art Thou? –this century’s musical-reeducation equivalent of The Blues Brothers soundtrack.

Just as The Blues Brothers Read More

Gillian Welch Raises Hell … Quietly

Gillian Welch’s second release, Hell Among the Yearlings (Almo Sounds), is the most spare and lovely album since Nick Drake’s Pink Moon . Most of Ms. Welch’s neo-Appalachian folk songs consist of just her and her partner, David Rawlings, singing and plucking guitars or a stray banjo. “Dave and I really get off on just Read More