One more thing. The Alan Lomax Collection staff tracked down James Carter who is now 80-something and living in a nursing home. He barely remembered making the field recording of "Po' Lazarus" when he was a prisoner in Mississippi in the 1950s. Thanks to "O Brother," he's just got his first royalty check of $20,000. The Lomax Collection is estimating that Carter will eventually earn several hundred thousand dollars from having the song on the CD.

Mike Regenstreif