Soundtrack: O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Mercury)

Although the 19 tracks on this collection comprise the essential soundtrack to the Coen Brothers's movie of the same name, they also work wonderfully well on their own. Armed with the formidable talents of producer T-Bone Burnett, the brothers were determined to source real country music for their distinctive 1930s take on Homer's Odyssey. Burnett rounded up Alison Krauss, the Whites, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch and others to bring the sound of old-time music alive, while from the vaults he pulled tracks like the Stanley Brothers's Angel Band. It is a mesmerising concoction, veering from the chilling unaccompanied O Death by Ralph Stanley to Alison Krauss's sublime Down To the River to Pray. The role of religion as a comfort in trying times is clear - but so is the genuine warmth of the music. For deeper background, check out Robert K. Oermann's essay at www.obrothersoundtrack.com.

The Hollisters: Sweet Inspiration (Hightone)

You don't have to search hard for this Houston-based band's inspiration, the mid-1960s sound of Johnny Cash. Eric Danheim's twangy guitar and Mike Barfield's big slouching vocals get the honky tonkin' message across with a minimum of fuss and no little impact. The titles of the 13 tracks, including nine originals, tell their own tale of hard living, hard loving and hard drinking: Love Rustler, Drinking For Two, Tonkin', Two Trains, etc. Some songs are almost cartoonish but the band punch them home with their revved-up roots panache, mixing their country inspiration with rockier instincts. In a live setting, this would be demon goodtime music, but on record it sounds a little too one-dimensional though good fun nonetheless.