The Coen Brothers and American Roots Music

For more than three decades, Joel and Ethan Coen have produced some of the most memorable and influential American roots music soundtracks in film history. From Raising Arizona (1987) to O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) to Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), the Coens, along with musical archivist and producer T-Bone Burnett, have curated half-forgotten yet unforgettable genres, artists and songs from America’s cultural past for new audiences. This book is the first devoted to giving a full account of this rich cinematic legacy.

Jesse Gerlach Ulmer is an associate professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts in Doha, Qatar, where he teaches and publishes research in the areas of American film and literature, as well as composition and education.

Jesse Gerlach Ulmer
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 216
Bibliographic Info: filmography, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2023
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8989-0
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5042-5
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vi
Introduction 1
Chapter 1. Frameworks 11
Chapter 2. “I hate the fuckin’ Eagles!”: The Big Lebowski 62
Chapter 3. “An Anthology of Moods”: O Brother, Where Art Thou? 95
Chapter 4. “Let us make beautiful music together”: The Ladykillers 120
Chapter 5. “If it was never new, and it never gets old, then it’s a folk song”: Inside Llewyn Davis 148
Conclusion: The ­Post-Existence of the Coen Brothers and American Roots Music 180
Bibliography and Filmography 195
Index 207

Finalist, ARSC Award for Excellence