‘Brother,’ here they go again

The gospel music-laced soundtrack produced by T Bone Burnett for the new Coen Brothers comedy “The Ladykillers” probably doesn’t have a prayer of selling anywhere close to what their last collaboration did.

That was the 6.6-million-selling bluegrass and country music collection Burnett put together for the Coens’ “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

The new album, however, figures to have a brighter commercial future than Burnett’s last film project, “Cold Mountain,” which has sold just 166,000 copies since its release Dec. 16, despite two Oscar-nominated songs: “Scarlet Tide,” written by Burnett and Elvis Costello, and Sting’s “You Will Be My Ain True Love.”

“The Ladykillers” soundtrack, in stores Tuesday, has one key ingredient in common with “O Brother” that was missing from “Cold Mountain”: a significant quotient of lively, upbeat music. The gospel recordings on “Ladykillers” span an era from the ‘30s to the present, and performers ranging from the Soul Stirrers and Blind Willie Johnson to such contemporary acts as the Nappy Roots and Donnie McClurkin.

The new soundtrack also has one thing in its corner that neither of the previous two Burnett soundtracks had: a single targeted for pop radio, in this case, the Nappy Roots’ rendition of “Trouble in This World,” for which the group teams with former members of Sly and the Family Stone.

“Because it’s T Bone and the Coen brothers, there’s definitely going to be interest there,” says Bob Feterl, Tower Records’ Southwest Region director. “I’m not hearing or feeling anything huge on [the album] yet, but those things can come completely out of left field.”

-- Randy Lewis