Mr. Fleming mentioned that the album was outselling the latest CD's of Michael Jackson and Mariah Carey. ''I told him, 'You beat both of them out,' '' Mr. Fleming said. ''He got a real kick out of that. He left the room to roll a cigarette and when he came back, he said, 'You tell Michael that I'll slow down so that he can catch up with me.' ''

Mr. Burnett said he first heard the work-gang song about five years ago when he was listening to music in the Lomax archives in New York City. ''It just made a deep impression,'' he said. ''It was such a beautiful version, a soulful version of a great song.''

Later, when Mr. Burnett began working on the album, the song was placed first on the soundtrack of the film, which was made by Joel and Ethan Coen. The film is a sort of Depression-era fable loosely based on ''The Odyssey.'' The soundtrack, on the Lost Highway label of the Universal Music Group, features a powerful cross section of Southern roots music by performers like Ralph Stanley, Alison Krauss and Union Station, and Emmylou Harris. The soundtrack won four other Grammy Awards in addition to album of the year.

Mr. Carter will earn royalties for being the lead performer on the Lomax recording used on the album. Because ''Po Lazarus'' is in the public domain, he will also earn songwriter royalties, which go to the performer once the copyright expires. Mr. Burnett said Mr. Carter's royalties could run ''well into the six-figure range.''

The album has sold five million copies and was the No. 2 country music album on the Billboard chart this week, after Alan Jackson's ''Drive.'' The Grammy triumph is expected to push sales far higher.

Mr. Carter said over the phone that he was not sure what he would do with the money. His daughter Elizabeth Scott, a real estate broker, said she and her two sisters were relatively well-off. Their children include a Chicago police officer.

Ms. Scott said that although her parents were comfortable in a large apartment of a building they own in the Austin area of Chicago, they might use their windfall to find an apartment more appropriate to their needs. Mr. Carter often uses a wheelchair.