Post by Doug on Jan 23, 2006 7:27:23 GMT -5
From: www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Entertainment/Music/entMUS01012306.htm
Queen of bluegrass
Grammy winner doesn't disappoint in Daytona Beach
By RICK de YAMPERT
Entertainment Writer
When bluegrass queen Alison Krauss performed Saturday night at the Mary McLeod Bethune Performing Arts Center, she took a break to tell the sold-out house that she went go-kart riding at Daytona Lagoon the day before.
"There was nobody on the track but me -- I won the race," Krauss said impishly.
Any other singer -- bluegrass, country, pop or whatever -- could have been on the track . . . er, at the Bethune center Saturday, and Krauss would have won the race, so angelic and mesmerizing was her voice.
Throw in a hot-shot backing band -- the lads of Union Station -- and it's easy to see why Krauss has won 17 Grammy Awards, more than any other female in this sector of the universe (she's one ahead of the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin). Delivering a stellar concert that meandered from bluegrass to gospel to hillbilly jazz to just plain pop (with only a hint of twang), Alison Krauss and Union Station made a case for winning 17 more Grammys.
Though Krauss can put a whippin' on a fiddle, her not-so-secret weapon is that voice. Drenched in that "high lonesome" heartache that defines the soul of bluegrass, Krauss' voice cloaked "Gravity," a leaving-home ballad, with a beautiful melancholy. Yet Krauss was able to turn up the pep in her vocal chords to turn "Oh Atlanta," that obscure song by the British rock band Bad Company, into a feisty bit of hillbilly swing.
On the breezy "Goodbye Is All We Have," Krauss took that same high lonesome and transformed it into pure pop bliss. Though Krauss and Union Station will be up for three Grammys in country categories on Feb. 8, "Goodbye" could stand with the Mariah Careys of the world.
But Krauss wasn't the only musician who buzzed the audience. She called bandmate Jerry Douglas "the greatest dobro player who ever lived," and King Kong wouldn't have challenged Krauss on that, especially after Douglas played a solo set that moved from turbo-billy pickin' to lyrical, mellow vibes.
The only sorrow at Saturday night's concert was that it had to end.
Queen of bluegrass
Grammy winner doesn't disappoint in Daytona Beach
By RICK de YAMPERT
Entertainment Writer
When bluegrass queen Alison Krauss performed Saturday night at the Mary McLeod Bethune Performing Arts Center, she took a break to tell the sold-out house that she went go-kart riding at Daytona Lagoon the day before.
"There was nobody on the track but me -- I won the race," Krauss said impishly.
Any other singer -- bluegrass, country, pop or whatever -- could have been on the track . . . er, at the Bethune center Saturday, and Krauss would have won the race, so angelic and mesmerizing was her voice.
Throw in a hot-shot backing band -- the lads of Union Station -- and it's easy to see why Krauss has won 17 Grammy Awards, more than any other female in this sector of the universe (she's one ahead of the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin). Delivering a stellar concert that meandered from bluegrass to gospel to hillbilly jazz to just plain pop (with only a hint of twang), Alison Krauss and Union Station made a case for winning 17 more Grammys.
Though Krauss can put a whippin' on a fiddle, her not-so-secret weapon is that voice. Drenched in that "high lonesome" heartache that defines the soul of bluegrass, Krauss' voice cloaked "Gravity," a leaving-home ballad, with a beautiful melancholy. Yet Krauss was able to turn up the pep in her vocal chords to turn "Oh Atlanta," that obscure song by the British rock band Bad Company, into a feisty bit of hillbilly swing.
On the breezy "Goodbye Is All We Have," Krauss took that same high lonesome and transformed it into pure pop bliss. Though Krauss and Union Station will be up for three Grammys in country categories on Feb. 8, "Goodbye" could stand with the Mariah Careys of the world.
But Krauss wasn't the only musician who buzzed the audience. She called bandmate Jerry Douglas "the greatest dobro player who ever lived," and King Kong wouldn't have challenged Krauss on that, especially after Douglas played a solo set that moved from turbo-billy pickin' to lyrical, mellow vibes.
The only sorrow at Saturday night's concert was that it had to end.
