O brother where art thou

So Mrs. McBB really loves this soundtrack and I'd like to play her something a bit more authentic. Any recommendations for compilations of original material in the vein of this soundtrack?

There's definitely a variety of material on the soundtrack, but these could be good places to start.

Classic Mountain Songs from Smithsonian Folkways
Stoneman Family: Old Time Tunes of the South

Additionally, one of my favorite out of print Stoneman albums (albeit a later, major-label one and so maybe slightly less authentic?) can be found pretty easily by googling for Pop Stoneman Memorial Album. I think it probably still fits the bill.

A good Stanley Brothers comp would be one place. On the other hand if what she likes is the sound of that soundtrack, with its modern production and all, then the Alison Krauss comp Now That I've Found You might be more suited.

Worth a read:

http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/fifteen-years-later-bluegrass-is-still-reeling-from-o-brother-where-art-thou/Content?oid=5070656

I do love this:

But even though the soundtrack focuses on traditional tunes, the Coens and company were surprised to find that some songs they had thought were in the public domain—and thus, free to use in the film—were not, in fact, traditional. They'd been mining discs of music that had often been incorrectly deemed traditional. Wilbur knew that sloppy attributions wouldn't fly.

"I remember my first conversation with Ethan when he showed me the CD, and he said, 'Look, it says right here, 'Traditional,'" Wilbur says. "I said, 'So what?'"