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Post by philly on Apr 29, 2012 21:57:22 GMT -5
www.examiner.com/review/alison-krauss-at-caesars-atlantic-cityAlison Krauss & Union Station at Caesars Atlantic CityJim BessmanApril 22, 2012 Manhattan Local Music Examiner She could barely walk, but Alison Krauss never sounded so beautiful as she did Friday night at Circus Maximus in Ceasars Atlantic City. When the stage lights went up on Krauss and her band Union Station, she was sitting on a chair with her extended right foot raised on a footstool—a gray sock showing through her black ankle brace. After opening with the titletrack of her and the band’s Grammy-winning latest album Paper Airplane, she explained that she had tripped at home when she got up to turn off Celebrity Apprentice—to be exact, just as Lou Ferrigno was fired. But Krauss has never been one to dance or move around while singing or playing fiddle: Even sitting down, she’s a pure standup singer—never more preternaturally pure than on this night. Indeed, it was as if the temporary loss of her walking/standing ability (she’s hobbling on crutches, for the time being) gives her more energy to devote to her voice—like any organism channels the energy from a needless appendage to a necessary one. Of course Union Station (banjo/guitar player Ron Block, guitarist/vocalist Dan Tyminski, upright bassist Barry Bales and dobo virtuoso Jerry Douglas) has always been part of the Krauss organism, and somehow managed here to support her with even greater sensitivity bordering on sympathy. The first half of the show stayed with the contemplative, progressive bluegrass nature of Paper Airplane and included that album’s cover of Peter Rowan’s stark “Dustbowl Children,” sung by Tyminski, along with earlier album fare that was similar in tone, like “Ghost In This House” and “Let Me Touch You For Awhile,” both sung by Krauss. So breathtaking was the sound, so ethereal was Krauss’s singing, that a guy in the casino crowd felt compelled to scream out, “We’re not worthy!” Krauss responded characteristically, revealing that she had misplaced her black “show sock”—hence the gray one. Nonetheless, she proclaimed how glad she and the band were to be performing for everyone, “show sock and all.” She also noted, after Tyminski did the lead vocal honors on the traditional homicide/prison blues song “Wild Bill Jones,” how people ask why she and the band do so many sad songs. “After years of study—we’re just sad people!” she acknowledged, smiling gleefully. But as she tried to point out that the preceding song highlighted “all the negative things that can happen,” Tyminski interjected that he had in fact, left out the final verse—the one about “someone who trips turning off Celebrity Apprentice.” “It’s better than jail!” Krauss retorted, then, speaking of Tyminski’s now-famous role as George Clooney’s singing voice in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, said it was “kind of weird” hearing the movie’s hit version of “I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow” (sung by Tyminski) at the bowling alley the other day. At her urging, Tyminski then demonstrated his renowned “Scalp Trick,” whereby he seems to move his hair back-and-forth independent of his scalp. “He wears a hair hat!” was Krauss’s technical explanation. Dropping more science, she noted, in bringing out Douglas for a spectacular dobro showpiece, that not only is the steel-plated resonator guitar the most powerful instrument in the bluegrass music family, it’s also the shiniest. But the best was saved for last. Krauss alone stayed on stage for the encores, and was first joined by Tyminski and Block for a snippet of their hit cover of Keith Whitley’s “When You Say Nothing At All.” Bales returned for a bit of her “Whiskey Lullaby” hit with Brad Paisley and a gospel quartet version of O Brother’s “Down To The River To Pray,” and Douglas came out for the closer, Block’s lovely gospel tune “There Is A Reason.” It was a lasting visual: the men standing with their instruments surrounding the seated woman as if protecting an angel in a Renaissance painting. Still, one hopes that next time, Krauss reaches for the clicker. [The Examiner wrote the liner notes to the 2007 Krauss compilation A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection.]
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Post by philly on Apr 29, 2012 22:06:16 GMT -5
www.nj.com/entertainment/music/index.ssf/2012/04/alison_krauss_and_union_statio.htmlAlison Krauss and Union Station in top form at Montclair concertPublished: Tuesday, April 24, 2012, 7:13 AM By Jay Lustig/The Star-Ledger
Photos by Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledger Alison Krauss stayed seated throughout her Sunday night concert at the Wellmont Theatre in Montclair.Alison Krauss stayed seated throughout her Sunday night concert at Wellmont Theatre in Montclair. This wasn’t by choice. She broke her right foot earlier this month, so she had to rest her leg on a footstool as she sang and played violin. It’s not like she would have moved around a lot, anyway. Krauss, 40, specializes in relaxed, soulful music, with complex, precise instrumentation but great delicacy and yearning in her lead vocals. Her career took a fascinating detour in 2007 with her “Raising Sand” collaboration with Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, but on her latest album, last year’s “Paper Airplane,” she and her band, Union Station, returned to their usual blend of bluegrass, country and pop. “Paper Airplane” won the Bluegrass Album Grammy — Krauss’ 27th Grammy, moving her into a tie with Quincy Jones for second on the all-time list, trailing only Georg Solti, with 31. Yet despite Krauss’ diva-like level of success, she still comes off like the archetypal bluegrass girl next door. On Sunday, her introduction of bassist Barry Bales led to a chat about his high school days. And she felt compelled to tell the crowd, with a shrug, that she broke her foot while turning off the television after watching “Celebrity Apprentice.” Such down-home touches seemed a bit surreal when juxtaposed with the dazzling beauty of Krauss’ voice and the world-class musicianship that makes her simple songs so resonant. She and the band shifted smoothly from the gently rolling country of “Every Time You Say Goodbye” to the crisp bluegrass of “Sawing on the Strings” and the stately balladry of Richard Thompson’s “Dimming of the Day.” Guitarist Dan Tyminski occasionally sang lead vocals, his bracing tenor balancing Krauss’ pliant soprano; his “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow,” which helped make “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” a soundtrack hit in 2001 (George Clooney lip-synched it in the movie), was the last song before the encores. Union Station guitarist Dan Tyminksi sang some of the lead vocals during the group's Sunday night concert in Montclair. Dobro master Jerry Douglas, a longtime Union Station collaborator who was billed as a “featured” musician in the show, was absolutely mesmerizing in his solo showcase, adding jaw-dropping melodic flourishes and layers of rhythmic complexity to Paul Simon’s “American Tune” and Chick Corea’s “Spain.” For the encores, the musicians gathered in various combinations around Krauss, center stage, for “When You Say Nothing at All,” “Whiskey Lullaby,” “Down to the River to Pray” and “Your Long Journey” — and then, to cap the evening, the show’s most powerfully spiritual song, “There is a Reason.” “I do believe, but help my unbelief/I’ve seen hard times and I’ve been told/There is a reason for it all,” Krauss sang, as if having a heart-to-heart conversation with the audience. The acoustics were excellent throughout the show — the best I’ve ever heard at the Wellmont. But given the band’s sparse arrangements, the lack of drums and Krauss’ vigorous attention to detail, it would have been surprising if this were not the case.
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Post by dreambig88 on Apr 30, 2012 15:54:30 GMT -5
Wow loved the first review. Love the way they joke around. Cant wait to see them in Mescalero with 10th row seats and Albuquerque with front row!! So excited after reading these.
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Post by MondayTuesday on May 1, 2012 6:14:19 GMT -5
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Post by dreambig88 on May 1, 2012 13:06:21 GMT -5
Awesome Pics. Love Alison's new hair cut!
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Post by MondayTuesday on May 1, 2012 16:29:14 GMT -5
Love Alison's new hair cut!  MerleFest 2012 |
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Post by dreambig88 on May 1, 2012 17:14:02 GMT -5
Awesome pics....love it and her!!! It looks so good!! Thank you MondayTuesday for this!  |
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Post by philly on May 6, 2012 1:55:37 GMT -5
Awesome Pics. Love Alison's new hair cut! Me too, shoulder length or shorter...any length is nice on her as long as no tightly curled permanents, IMO... Wonder what happened to her cuttings. It's a minimum 8 inches to donate to cancer patient wigs. Otherwise, her shorn locks could be worth a bit on ebay, lol. Although that would be kinda creepy, even for a charitable cause.  |
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Post by dreambig88 on May 6, 2012 14:02:06 GMT -5
I just think it looks more natural shorter...I dont particularly love short hair but I think it looks stunning on her..I think if she would to have it up to her bra line (in back) would look good to. not to long not to short. but this I really like. I like her hair curled lightly to but she can also pull it off with tight curls. Look up We can make it video on YT and I think she looks gorgeous their.
P.S. I thought it had to be 12in to donate to locks of love?? Thats how long my hair had to be before I could donate it, but of course that was awhile back, and oh I thought most of Alison's lenght was all hair extensions??
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Post by philly on May 7, 2012 3:29:38 GMT -5
*There are several videos of this show in this youtubers account www.youtube.com/user/DCRANGERFAN/videosSunday, May 6, 2012 , Updated 5:24 p.m., May 6, 2012 Concert review and photos: Alison Krauss & Union Station at Verizon Theatre (May 5)by Jessica Harp The band baptized the audience in southern backwater hymns. GRAND PRAIRIE — Although it has been more than a year since bluegrass quintet Alison Krauss & Union Station have released new music, fans filled Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie to the brim on Saturday night. The masterful musicians have quite the devoted following, which comes from staying together and making music for more than 20 years. The band wasn’t created in a studio, and their music is true authentic Americana – a testament to this country’s musical roots. As the theater began to darken, all eyes and ears were focused on the musicians washed in hues of blues and purples. There was an ethereal stillness as each member of the band willed their instruments to make bluegrass melodies that harken back to a time when life was much more simple. Alison Krauss & Union Station has a tendency to play tunes full of sadness, which isn’t uncommon for the bluegrass genre, but in between songs they more than made up for it with their playful stage banter – something they have developed over years of performing together. Union Station’s musical timing was impeccable; it was clear that each musician is a master of his or her perspective instruments. The sweet cherry on top of their unforgettable performance were their harmonies, many executed during tricky fingerpicking. Often, the band would break out from their dreary bluegrass songs and play down-home, foot tapping country music. Fans went wild as each musician on stage did solos, baptizing the theater in southern backwater hymns. They did play a few hits from over the years, though Krauss only sang snippets from “When You Say Nothing At All” and “Whiskey Lullaby.” The band more than made up for the brief disappointment when the band performed their most recognized tune to date, “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow” from the soundtrack of the film O’ Brother Where Art Thou? Over the course of the evening, it was easy to see why Alison Krauss & Union Station have such dedicated fans. Their music is authentic, seemingly made for the art and not for the fame. It was refreshing to see and hear true Americana, despite their shelves of Grammy awards. The band surely earned each of the three standing ovations they received at the end of their set Saturday night.         www.pegasusnews.com/news/2012/may/06/concert-review-alison-krauss-union-station-verizon/?refscroll=1296
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Post by turbo on May 8, 2012 9:12:40 GMT -5
In my opinion, Alison's new haircut is all her, no extensions anymore, what do y'all think?
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Post by Allie on May 8, 2012 15:35:42 GMT -5
In my opinion, Alison's new haircut is all her, no extensions anymore, what do y'all think? Yeah it looks like it's been all her for a while now (minus a couple events like the MusiCares Paul McCartney tribute and the Grammys, possibly the Leno/The Talk/Tavis Smiley appearances back in December). Her hair lately doesn't look long enough or full enough to have extensions. |
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Post by dreambig88 on May 8, 2012 15:43:59 GMT -5
It looks Absolutely gorgeous(:
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Post by philly on Jul 20, 2012 20:08:13 GMT -5
The reviewer thinks Akus should be stretching their musical horizons. But then there are the reviewers who passive-aggressively gripe that they aren't sticking to the bluegrass-country template enough  *oh, and they got the grammy count wrong  Review: Alison Krauss, Liverpool Philharmonic HallLiverpool Daily Post
Jul 19 2012WITH her easy Southern charm and winsome blonde looks, Alison Krauss makes a perfect poster girl for the alternative country scene. Now in her early 40s, Krauss’s 26-year career has seen her grow far from her bluegrass roots to the point where touts are eagerly selling tickets outside a sold-out Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. It’s not hard to see why Krauss inspires such devotion and acclaim (she has won an incredible 26 Grammy Awards). Her voice is an exquisite thing of beauty and the backing she receives from her superb band Union Station is often simply breathtaking, so much so that Krauss frequently steps back from the mic to let them have the spotlight. Guitarist Dan Tyminski and dobro player Jerry Douglas both get their moments on centre stage, with Douglas’s dizzying fretwork on a Paul Simon and Chick Corea-inspired instrumental is one of the night’s undoubted highlights. Despite her willingness to play her fiddle and be one of the boys, Krauss is the undoubted star of a show which tends to concentrate on the slower- paced and more tragic songs from her back catalogue (a fact she amusingly alludes to when she lists the various troubles that befall the unlucky Wild Bill Jones on the song of the same name). Krauss’s choice of material, from her tender covering of The Foundations’ Baby Now That I’ve Found You to a lovely reading of Richard Thompson’s Dimming of the Day, all show the range of her remarkable vocals but her version of Keith Whitely’s When You Say Nothing At All sadly cannot escape the depressing spectre of Ronan Keating. Judging by the reaction to each song, Krauss’s long term followers and newer fans attracted by her collaboration with Robert Plant and her film work with Cohen Brothers (a beautiful a cappella version of Down To The River To Pray is a lovely highlight), are more than satisfied but as good as Krauss and her band are, there’s a nagging feeling that they are rather going through the motions during what is an incredibly slick performance. As Tyminski (who was George Clooney’s voice double in O Brother, Where Art Thou) launches into I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow for probably the umpteenth time of his career, one can’t help thinking that Krauss should be stretching and challenging both herself and her band to a greater extent. Jamie Bowman |
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Post by philly on Aug 28, 2012 13:37:33 GMT -5
Alison Krauss's effortless vocal delicacy astounded audiencePublished: August 27, 2012 By Walter Tunis — Contributing Music Writer DANVILLE — On Saturday night at Danville's Norton Center for the Arts, Alison Krauss exhibited the conversational ease of a folk stylist, the rustic fervor of a true bluegrasser and the harmony-savvy phrasing of pop professional. But in the end — literally the end, during a sterling five-song encore — it was her vocal delicacy, a sound Krauss could probably patent if she chose, that astounded most people. So absorbing and focused was the closing medley — which had Krauss, sans fiddle, camped around a single microphone with various members of her long-running Union Station band — that the dead quiet offered from the sold-out audience almost became part of the music. At the very least, it enhanced the encore segment's beautifully plaintive feel: the whispery emotive cast of When You Say Nothing at All, the stark country heartbreak of Whiskey Lullaby, the stoic spiritualism of Down to the River to Pray, the folkish contemplation of Your Long Journey and the pastoral resolve of There is a Reason. It was less of a collective performance coda than it was a performance unto itself. But then such regal, effortless delicacy is what we have come to expect from Krauss. What happened in the 90 minutes preceding the encore, although not an earth-shattering surprise, certainly toyed with such expectation. The ensemble dynamics of Union Station were established right out of the gate, with two songs from Krauss's 2011 album with Union Station, Paper Airplane. The title song opened the evening by introducing Krauss's lusciously hushed tone. Guitarist and co-vocalist Dan Tyminski, ever the traditionalist, followed with a suitably rootsy reading of the Peter Rowan folk classic Dust Bowl Children. As if to further showcase stylistic credentials, Krauss then struck up the fiddle and led the entire ensemble through the bluegrass turns of Who's Your Uncle, the evening's lone instrumental. But there has been some noticeable growth since Union Station last played the region. Krauss's recording and touring with Robert Plant a few years back seems to have strengthened the bottom end of her vocal range. She has always been capable of belting out a verse amid atmospheric ambience, but last night's medley of Daylight and Sinking Stone revealed deeper colors and shadings in her singing. All of them were displayed in moderation, though. The crispness of Krauss's music remained, regardless of the vocal maturity, a study in taste and tone. The Union Station crew got its licks in, too. Jerry Douglas' solo dobro medley of Paul Simon's American Tune and Chick Corea's Spain was an intuitive, soulful and technically dazzling tour de force, and Tyminski's keen vocal command during a solo rendition of Woody Guthrie's Pastures of Plenty re-established the program's roots-driven foundation. Still, Krauss remained the belle of the Union Station ball. When she drew the feathery but potently emotive ambience of Richard Thompson's Dimming of the Day to a close late into the concert, several audible gasps and sighs could be heard from the audience. Sure, they seemed to enjoy the evening's pop and bluegrass just fine. But singing sweetly with heart openly on sleeve was the Alison style this bunch clearly dug the most. Read more here: www.kentucky.com/2012/08/27/2312107/allison-krausss-effortless-vocal.html#storylink=cpy
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