What Happened Backstage

Like a Bolt From

Out of the Bluegrass

Soundtrack producer T Bone Burnett said the biggest thrill of the “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” success was the recognition that has come to bluegrass veteran Ralph Stanley and an unexpected turn of events a week ago.

“The first song on the album is a work-gang song by James Carter and prisoners, recorded in 1952 at the Parchment Farm [prison] in Mississippi,” Burnett said.

“Alan Lomax went down there and recorded these chain-gang hollers. When royalty checks came in, we started looking for this guy, James Carter. Last week, we found him [living in Chicago], and Friday night the Lomax people went by and gave him a check, gave him a platinum record. He’d never heard of the movie or the project.”

A Hip-Hop Call

for Artist Unity

Rapper Eve, winner of best rap/sung collaboration for her “Let Me Blow Ya Mind” with Gwen Stefani, lamented the absence of the hip-hop community from the Recording Artists Coalition campaign, a new lobbying group created to give musicians a unified voice at the legislative table.

“Unfortunately the hip-hop community has not come together as the rock world has,” she said. “Contracts are horrible, [though] I’m blessed. But it’s not as fair as it could be. We are the artists, we do most of the work, and the record companies get everything.”

Pledging Allegiance

to the United States

Backstage after losing best album honors to “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” U2’s Bono and the Edge declared great affection for soundtrack producer T Bone Burnett. Bono then went on to make an eloquent love declaration for the United States, continuing the role the band has had since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“I have to tell you, as outsiders, as guests of the nation, we’ve always loved coming here, but this year I’ve rediscovered my love for America--the great idea as opposed to just the great country. It is a great idea, worth defending, worth taking around the world.”

O Radio, Where

Art Thou?

In the pre-telecast portion of the show, a wave of wins for tradition-rooted country performances was the trend, with the “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack and the related “Down From the Mountain” concert recording, the “Timeless” Hank Williams tribute collection, bluegrass veterans Ralph Stanley and Earl Scruggs and bluegrass-country star Alison Krauss all scoring awards.

The winners noted that their success came despite country radio’s indifference.

“There are a lot of different broadcast media now,” said T Bone Burnett, who won producer of the year for his work on the “O Brother” album, as well as “Mountain” and “Fan Dance” by his wife, Sam Phillips. “Radio doesn’t have the stranglehold it once had on the distribution of music.”