By Patrick MacDonald
Seattle Times staff critic
Music that could have come from the front porch of an Appalachian shack, or from a Grange-hall stage in some small Southern town, was instead heard in the grand confines of the Paramount Theatre on Thursday night and last night, before sold-out crowds.
Classic country songs such as "You Are My Sunshine," "Big Rock Candy Mountain," "In the Jailhouse Now" and "Amazing Grace" rang out in all their glory, along with a wide range of other old-timey, country, gospel and bluegrass tunes, performed by a truckload of some of the finest musicians in folk and country music.
In a show that resembled the Grand Ole Opry in its heyday, complete with narrator (singer/songwriter/filmmaker Bob Neuwirth), frequent changes of acts, personnel from various bands joining to jam, homespun family groups (with children) and no drums (!), the show was simple and plain in its approach, but packed a mighty emotional wallop.
Mostly drawn from the phenomenally successful soundtrack to the movie "O Brother, Where Are Thou?," set in Depression-era Mississippi, the music leaned toward the mournful and sad, but the quality of the playing and singing lifted the spirit, even while the lyrics stirred the soul.
In some ways, it was almost too much of a good thing. With some 25 musicians involved, few had a chance to show anything but a small portion of their talent. It would have been nice to have spent more time with the angelic Alison Krauss and her deeply talented band, Union Station; with the great Emmylou Harris, whose singing is better than ever; and with Patty Loveless, the Nashville country-music star, who showed her Kentucky roots in several beautifully sung ballads.
Krauss' sweet voice was almost too achingly pure in the solemn hymn "Down To the River to Pray." Harris was in perfect form singing a song somehow appropriate for Valentine's Day, "Love Hurts." Loveless bared her "Mountain Soul" - the name of her new album - and joined Krauss and Harris for several songs, notably the backwoodsy "Don't Leave Nobody But the Baby." Fortunately, Jerry Douglas of Union Station, a master of the dobro, joined almost every grouping in the show, and his playing was incredible, no matter what the style of the song. Another member, Dan Tyminski, who supplied the singing voice of George Clooney in the movie, was also great as a singer and guitarist.
Blues singer-guitarist Chris Thomas King, who played itinerant bluesman Tommy Johnson in the movie, was impressive, singing his own rousing "John Law Burned Down the Liquor Sto'."
The big star of the night, however, was bluegrass patriarch Ralph Stanley, who turns 75 on Feb. 25. Brought on toward the end of the nearly three-hour concert, he showed his voice is as high and lonesome as ever, as he performed an a cappella version of the sepulchral "O Death," and, backed by some of the musicians, one of his signature tunes, "Man of Constant Sorrow," also a key song in the movie.
All the musicians joined Stanley to close the show with another of his famous tunes, "Angel Band." Then he led everybody, including the audience, in singing "Amazing Grace."
Patrick MacDonald can be reached at