Concert review: Down From the Mountain is a down-home treat
Jon Bream
Published Jul 24, 2002
It wasn't the front porch or the living room, as emcee Rodney Crowell had promised it would be.
But the all-star Down from the Mountain Tour -- featuring bluegrass, old-time and blues from the Grammy-winning "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack -- turned out to be a down-home delight Tuesday night at the unfriendly confines of Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
The hockey arena -- acoustically admirable as far as arenas go -- just wasn't as intimate as Minneapolis' Historic State Theatre, where Down from the Mountain visited in February. But when "O Brother" has sold more than 6 million copies (including 2.3 million in 2002), the Mountain has to move.
Although the setting wasn't as fitting, the 3 1/2-hour evening turned out to be more rewarding musically. And that's saying a mouthful because the first show was quite special. The addition of Alison Krauss & Union Station and Ricky Skaggs -- coupled with Crowell as the new emcee -- raised the quality, both with their music and their humor.
What made the evening extraordinary was not only the size and depth of the talent -- from bluegrass stars Del McCoury and Jerry Douglas to country heroines Patty Loveless and Emmylou Harris to bluegrass patriarch Ralph Stanley -- but the camaraderie, spontaneity and enthusiasm onstage.
The stage was as uncomplicated as birthday-girl Krauss' blue jeans, sweater and I-didn't-take-a-shower attitude. This program wasn't about custom-tailored outfits, stage gimmicks and the usual arena show-biz, but about the passion of singing and playing these kinds of American roots music. Even though the songs were about death, desperadoes and disappointment in love (and life), there was a consistently undeniable joy from the singers.
Doing sets of two or three songs each, the artists performed in various permutations and combinations, with Harris, at one point, seemingly calling an audible to invite Crowell and others to join her. No rehearsal seemed necessary for this concert, even though two members of the Nashville Bluegrass Band (sort of the show's house band) were missing. And when Harris, Krauss and Loveless are the backup singers, it is a special show indeed.
All but two songs from the "O Brother" soundtrack were performed, though not always by the artists who sang them on the soundtrack. The theme song, "Man of Constant Sorrow," was heard twice, once from Dan Tyminski (who was the singing voice of George Clooney in the movie) and later from Stanley (the 75-year-old star of the soundtrack).
The remarkably divergent versions received loud approval from the 5,835 fans. The other "O Brother" highlight was Krauss, Harris and Loveless teaming up for the goosebump-inducing a cappella "Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby." Non-soundtrack highpoints included Skaggs' speedy "Uncle Pen," the Stanley/Loveless duet of "Pretty Polly," Loveless' "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive," with its sobbing instrumental coda, and McCoury's spectacular three-song set, which, in less than 15 minutes, covered the emotional and musical range of bluegrass.
All those sampler performances made a listener yearn to hear these artists in person again -- in a more living-roomlike setting.
-- Jon Bream is at popmusic@startribune.com