If you thought George Clooney’s voice in O Brother, Where Art Thou? sounded familiar, it’s likely because you recognized his ghost singer, Dan Tyminski, who is a prolific solo bluegrass singer-songwriter and member of Alison Krauss’ band Union Station. Like so many other actors who are portraying musical roles, Clooney lip-synched his vocal performances to backing tracks of Tyminski actually singing.
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It might not be the most forward-facing gig Tyminski has ever had—literally speaking, anyway—but it did elicit a hilarious reaction from his wife, Elise Tyminski, who later had to answer for her comments to Clooney himself.
George Clooney’s Ghost Singer’s Wife Reacts
Ghost singers covering for leading actors’ parts is an age-old tradition in the movie business. Sometimes, the right actor for a part won’t have the musical chops to back it up. The leading actor actually singing in the film might be more important for, say, a Bob Dylan biopic, but in the 2000 musical comedy O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the production crew opted to have authentic bluegrass musicians perform the traditional numbers instead.
This included Gillian Welch, Alison Krauss, and Emmylou Harris performing the sirens’ song, “Didn’t Leave Nobody but the Baby.” It also included “Man of Constant Sorrow,” performed by the “Soggy Bottom Boys” in the film. In real life, the Soggy Bottom Boys were Union Station’s Dan Tyminski, Harley Allen, and Pat Enright. During a 2010 appearance on Country’s Family Reunion, Tyminski recalls telling his wife that he had just landed a gig as Clooney’s ghost singer. “I explained, you know, in this case, when you went to the theater, you’d be looking at George Clooney up on the big screen. But you’d be hearing my voice coming out.”
“She said, ‘That’s my fantasy!’” Tyminski continued with a laugh. The bluegrass singer-songwriter said he told Clooney about his wife’s reaction before the New York City film premiere. “He actually went and embarrassed her on the red carpet in front of a bunch of cameras,” Tyminski said. “[He] leaned over and said, ‘I heard what you said.’ She just turned five shades of red and then looked at me with that look that you knew I was way in trouble. She was smiling, but I knew deep down, I was like, ‘Oh, boy.’”
A Lost Opportunity Turned Into A Lifetime Fortune
Even if people didn’t see his face in the film, “Man of Constant Sorrow” turned into one of Dan Tyminski’s signature songs. Bluegrass fans who recognized his distinct voice would ask him to sing it at nearly every venue he played, every interviewer prefaced their questions about the song with grandiose introductions about its significance to his career, and so on. During a 2024 interview with the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, Tyminski described how what he perceived to be a lost opportunity turned into the fortune of a lifetime.
In the beginning, Tyminski was under the impression he would cut the track with George Clooney. But after Clooney and the production staff realized the actor’s voice wasn’t quite up to snuff, they opted to have Tyminski perform it alone. The bluegrass artist said Clooney told him, “‘I don’t know what we’re doing in here.’ He says, ‘I’ll make you a deal. I’ll act. You sing.’ And he shook my hand.’”
Tyminski continued, “I was crushed, thinking that, ‘Oh, my gosh, I just lost the biggest opportunity,’ which, to me, was to record it with Clooney. When he said that, what I didn’t realize was instead of the $320 I would have made for my session fee, which I would have been plenty happy for, instead of that, I got to pay off my house, and I got to buy new cars, and I got to put my kids through college. I got to raise a family in a manner that I would have never have had without that song, and really, that’s because George Clooney said, ‘I’ll act. You sing.’”
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