Track Listing

1. If Wishes Were Horses - Claire Lynch
2. Silver Tongue and Gold Plated Lies - Suzanne Thomas
3. Sad Situation - Delia Bell
4. True Life Blues - Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard
5. Lonesome Wind Blues - Rhonda Vincent
6. Pardon Me - Cox Family
7. Old River - Hazel Dickens and Ginny Hawker
8. You Tried to Ruin My Name - Wilma Lee Cooper
9. I Can't Find Your Love Any More - Hazel Dickens
10. Just Like Rain - Kathy Kallick with Laurie Lewis
11. Mama's Hand - Lynn Morris
12. Every Time You Say Goodbye - Alison Krauss
13. Blue - The Stevens Sisters
14. Time is Winding Up - Ginny Hawker and Carol Elizabeth Jones
15. Blow, Big Wind - Laurie Lewis
16. Will There Be Any Stars? - The Cox Family with Alison Krauss
17. The Last Old Shovel - Phyllis Boyens
18. Comin' Down from God - Carol Elizabeth Jones
19. Eight More Miles - Laurie Lewis, Claire Lynch, Lynn Morris & Rhonda Vincent

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20184 in Music
• Released on: 2001-10-30
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
The bluegrass bandwagon continues to roll in 2001. This collection attempts to capitalize on the breakthrough success of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. Drawn from Rounder's rich catalog, the 19-cut sampler of female singing, fiddling, and picking extends from an era when women were a novelty in this male-dominated music category through the popular crossover ascendance of such contemporary artists (and O Brother favorites) as Alison Krauss and the Cox Family. Harmonies from the likes of Rhonda Vincent and the Stevens sisters soar toward the heavens, while the earthier strains of Hazel Dickens and Ginny Hawker are more reflective of the music's hardscrabble roots. Though Wilma Lee Cooper's "You Tried to Ruin My Name" has all the subtlety of a hog-calling contest, such rawness is about as real as this music gets. --Don McLeese

Customer Reviews

+ 1/2 Stars...Top-Notch Bluegrass
Where the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack had Ralph Stanley as the patriarch of the roster of artists, this collection from the Rounder label (long known for its folk and bluegrass recordings) has Delia Bell and Wilma Lee Cooper as the matriarchs of this fine collection of bluegrass. Taken from the artists' individual albums rather than being recorded for this specific recording, the listener is nonetheless presented with some of the finest bluegrass music in the country today. [Note: I did NOT qualify that statement by gender!] Song selection ranges from the upbeat ("If Wishes Were Horses"), to the mournful ("Sad Situation") to the inspirational ("Will There Be Any Stars?"). Most of these tracks were recorded within the past decade and several have appeared on other Rounder collections (notably Hand-Picked: 25 Years of Bluegrass), but if you're looking for a solid introduction to bluegrass music led by women, this is an excellent primer. RECOMMENDED

It's pretty good, but...
this CD offers lots of good music, but it just lacks the compelling "play-it-again" quality of "O Brother." I bought the CD, enjoyed it, gave it to friends to listen to, but I've not played it after that first time. I like the idea of "O Sister" -- there has been a lot of good music in this genre made by women, but I think that those who compiled this CD just missed the mark. The songs don't fit together as well as they could & they often lack the "sing-along" quality of much of my favorite Bluegrass. Some of the musicians are not represented as well as they could be by the selections & I think (as the other reviewers have remarked) that MANY songs could have been included that weren't. Buy the CD or borrow a friend's if you are so inclined -- I doubt you'll really regret it -- it's just that it became just so much filler in my CD tower, not really getting the "airtime" that my other bluegrass CD's do (like "O Brother" or Kristen Hersh's "Murder, Misery, and then Goodnight" or DryBranch FireSquad or even Dolly Parton's peppy "Little Sparrow" or any of the traditional bluegrass like Doc Watson or Bill Monroe, etc.) I'm not sorry I bought this CD, but it's not as good as I know it could have been....

"Rounder presents the true women of Bluegrass!"
After listening to just few tracks of this WOMEN'S BLUEGRASS COLLECTION...can only say one thing "O SISTER WHERE ART THOU", when you think this was for "men musicians only"...well think again after you sample this album, the gals are in the top form...19 tracks of unforgettable bluegrass, and the ladies are singing "Pure Americana".

I can remember as a youngster playing records by "Mother" Maybelle Carter, what an incredible sound came from this wonderful entertainer, will never forget those early years of "Mountain Music"...now let's look at Ronda Vincent's "LONESOME WIND BLUES", digging into the roots of bluegrass...and the warm style of Lynn Morris singing "MAMA'S HAND", touches the heart of everyone who has left the nest...nobody does gospel like The Cox Family on "WILL THERE BE ANY STARS?", joined by Alison Krauss, takes us to them "Golden Gates", doesn't get any better than this.

Rounder Records deserves a lot of credit for having the insight in releasing bluegrass that has been considered America's early form of music...thanks to Rounder's vast vault of music we can now hear both versions by men and WOMEN!

Total Time: 55:49 on 19 Tracks ~ Rounder Records 11661-0499-2 ~ (2001)