Concert Reviews

[philly]

Their 2 year tour has come to an end. Hope they stay busy with other projects!
(I see Sonoma is only a Stone's Throw from San Fran, and its Hardly Strictly BG festival, starting this weekend. Unfortunately it looks like they won't be sticking around for that. Except Jerry Douglas and his band will perform. Sierra Hull and Emmylou Harris will also appear.)

In Reviews

Review and Photos: Alison Krauss and Union Station at the Green Music Center

Posted by Nicolas Grizzle on Oct 1, 2012 | Comments (0)


I used to sell meat. My favorite part of the day was sampling out bacon. Our bacon was real, thick-cut, how-it-should-be bacon, which many members of the public had never experienced. Their reaction always began at the eyes, then traveled up to the brow before sinking into the rest of the face and, sometimes, weakening the knees. It was something they were familiar with, but just didn’t know what it was really like, or how good it could be.

After seeing Alison Krauss with Union Station, featuring Jerry Douglas, last night at the Green Music Center, I now know that feeling from the other side of the counter.

It was maybe halfway through the concert that everything came together in a rush of emotion, and Krauss’ emotional songs might have played a factor, but I was holding back tears when the realization hit me. Nothing will ever sound better than inside this hall. This is quite possibly the best-sounding band, the most professional engineers, in the most gorgeous acoustic space I will ever experience. This is the French Laundry of concert spaces.



This was the first non-classical concert in Weill Hall, the five-carat diamond amongst the surrounding gems of the Green Music Center at Sonoma State University. In addition to Krauss and Union Station wrapping up the festivities, this opening weekend included a gala opening concert with pianist Lang Lang, a sunrise choral concert with original music composed for and dedicated to those involved with the creation of the center, and an afternoon performance by the Santa Rosa Symphony, which has the privilege of calling the hall its home.

In comparison to the previous evening, which was full of tuxedos, Versace gowns, politicians and formal stuffiness, this was a decidedly blue-jeans event. There were even people dancing on the lawn, the mood was so jovial. The weather was perfect, absolutely perfect, and I can’t help but see exactly what drove SSU President Ruben Armiñana to create this indoor-outdoor concert space. In fact, though my seat was inside the hall, I strode outside in the second half to see what it was like, and honestly I preferred sitting on the lawn. Of course, weather permitting and musical style taken into account, it wasn’t inconceivable that the best seats in the house were, in fact, not in the house at all.



The two large LED screens flanking the opening to the concert hall were a little too bright, but what they showed was beautiful. Close-ups of the band, their expressive faces, their lightning-fast picking all dissolved with slow fades. Combined with the excellent, natural sound coming from both the hall itself and reinforced with high-hanging speakers and downfiring subwoofers (18 of them), this was the best outdoor sound I have ever heard. I had a tough time hearing some of the stories and witty banter between songs, but I suspect that had more to do with the storytellers turning away from the microphone for a moment. Can’t amplify sound that’s not there!

The band played together for about an hour before Jerry Douglas gave a solo performance on Dobro guitar, which blew me away from my 10th-row seat. Even with a stack of speakers in front of me, the sound was natural, even, pleasing and rich. Not once did this sound engineer turn to look back in the direction of the mixing board to suggest something unpleasant was happening. In fact, I would like to give a written high-five to the engineer for the evening. You did the hall justice. You got on that balance between acoustic and amplified and walked the tightrope all night long. And when the band came back for an encore set, using only one microphone, they were right there, too, blending themselves using distance and dynamics between voices and instruments.

Douglas announced this was the last stop of their two-year (!) tour. They were so musically tight and having so much fun, it seemed like they felt at home. At one point, Krauss turned to the balcony crowd behind her and waved, turning back to the microphone to say, as understated as her music, “This like no other place I’ve ever seen.”



citysound.bohemian.com/2012/10/01/live-review-and-photos-allison-krauss-and-union-station-featuring-jerry-douglas-at-weill-hall/

[philly]

Green Music Center comes to life
by Natalie Gray
Published: Tuesday, October 2, 2012

At a little past the promised starting time of 7:30 p.m. this past Sunday night, the blonde, soft-spoken and violin-carrying Alison Krauss strode casually onto the glowing blue stage of Weill Hall, along with her all-male-band, Union Station. The performance was the final of five to initiate opening weekend of the Green Music Center.

Even taking care to arrive a good hour before the performance time, the crowd was unavoidable. Already, the arena was teeming so much with cowboy-boots-wearing pedestrians and tight clumps of cars eager to stuff into any available parking space that even a minivan backing itself the campus-owned STAR cart seemed of little surprise or alarm to anyone.

The crowd also made it hard to believe that the event and the actual location was even on Sonoma State property. Used to the almost always-vacant sidewalks (especially on the weekends at night), seeing hundreds of people shuffling their way through the campus to the golden hall was a strange sight. This buzzing and exciting place, surely, could not truly be part of our tiny, quiet school, could it?
What was almost as bizarre and unusual a sight to behold as the guest was the actual hall itself. For has what seems like nearly forever, the sight has been nothing but a solid mound of dirt with little use more than housing stationary construction vehicles of various sizes and abilities.

Now, though, the lot is paved in smooth cement, perfectly aligned olive trees, a strictly manicured lawn and cool placards of dedication from Joan and Sanford Weill. There were careful paths through ticket and purse checkers, to either an open field or the hall itself and to white tents where you could purchase food, soda or wine and beer.

Suddenly, it was very hard to believe that any of this was on SSU grounds.

But, just as you could be convincing yourself otherwise, that maybe this wooden, lopsided-looking hall with its large attracted audience and giant televised screens flanking the stage is not really your college, outsteps Ruben Armiñana, university president.

Armiñana welcomed the audience to the GMC and expressed this performance, and the four preceding it, as a celebration unlike any other California has seen in a great stretch of time, the last comparable one being the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge. Next, he handed the microphone to Dan Condron, vice president for university affairs.

“About five years ago, we began to discuss who would perform at opening,” said Condron. “We wanted the definitive sound and voice of American music.”

He moved to state that they found that there was no better musician that displayed American music at its best than Alison Krauss and her Union Station band. Then, to a standing ovation applause from the audience, Krauss and the band walked onto stage.

To say Krauss and Union Station were casual would be an understatement; they strode on stage without the introduction of flashing bright lights or jets of steam nor did they find the need to dance or try to impress the audience at all. Instead, they simply walked to their designated places, their bodies cast in hues of purple and blue from the cascading lights, picked up their instruments and played.

Krauss did not speak a word to the audience until after she had performed three songs, the last being purely instrumental. Her voice came as almost a shock; where her singing voice was deep, strong and heavy with throaty emotion, she spoke with a wispy, airy small voice, and looked about the hall she was standing in.

“Well this is unlike any place I have ever seen,” said Krauss. “We are honored to be here on your opening night.”

The hall itself seemed small, in all honesty, when packed fully with people. Wherever you turned, there was someone more likely than not dressed more formally than the very casual jean-and-pony-tail-wearing Krauss.

The lighting directed to the stage was the only source of true light in the hall, illuminating the walls and the faces of the performers in colors that varied from deep purples and blues to bold reds, changing to match the pace and emotion of the songs.

The performance itself was amazing. Sheer and utterly amazing. Krauss seemed incapable of hitting a wrong note, a talent that shared with her band. The group had no false pretenses; there was no dancing, no foul language or crude jokes, no scantily clad outfits and no special effects. The audience, the band seemed to know, came to listen to music, so playing good music was their only concern.

Krauss herself performed with a calm air, appearing blind to the largeness of her audience and only able to focus on her music. The only time when she see did not seemed wrapped up in the seriousness of her own lyrics was when she picked up and played her violin and a peaceful, happy smile sprayed across her face, eyes closed.

Weill Hall is rather un-Sonoma State-ish in its grandeur, but proved a perfectly able host for a very nice concert. Alison Krauss and her Union Station Band were a wonderfully entertaining performance, with their calm demeanor and perfectly performed music and was a very successful end to the Green Music Center’s opening weekend.

[philly]

Concert review | Willie Nelson and Alison Krauss: Nelson, 81, puts on a show as only he can

By Rob Harvilla For The Columbus Dispatch • Thursday May 15, 2014 10:36 AM

A giant Texas flag unfurled behind Willie Nelson and his band of gentle ruffians as he launched heartily into Whiskey River, and all was right with the world.

What better way to ride out a possible tornado than in the company of America’s most beloved octogenarian, marijuana advocate, vegetable-oil-powered bus owner, fifth-degree GongKwon Yusul black belt, IRS nemesis and country superstar? The reverent (but usually seated) Schottenstein Center crowd had likely never felt safer.

Yep, Willie’s 81 now, his fastball gone maybe, but don’t discount his veteran savvy. There was a spontaneous, ramshackle quality to last night’s brisk, too-short set, monster hits from Crazy to On the Road Again to a striking Georgia on My Mind reborn as cheerful, casual shrugs. Nonchalant genius is kinda his thing.

His voice is still playful and pristine, though, his guitar-playing surprisingly muscular and surly. He took a lot of solos; he tossed several of his trademark red bandanas into the crowd as punctuation. Willie lags behind and/or darts ahead of the beat so relentlessly he’s better off without a drummer — as it stands, that guy’s job is way harder than yours. But longtime harmonica virtuoso Mickey Raphael did his best to gently steer his boss toward home.

A definite victory-lap feel to all this, flirting with but never quite succumbing to medley-heavy kitsch. Even so, if Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain doesn’t still get you, you might as well self-deport. And as he put it in a new song, Band of Brothers, “I know you love me, ’cause I love you too / But you can’t tell me what to do.” Grand finale: Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die. OK!

Alison Krauss and Union Station rated as co-headliners, bluegrass royalty with a light touch and astounding range. Singer-guitarist Dan Tyminski alone treated us to both the Kentucky-saluting traditionalist smash Man of Constant Sorrow and Hey Brother, his shock 2013 team-up with Swedish mega-DJ Avicii, gorgeous and nonsensical.

But Krauss still reigns supreme, on the mic and violin alike, with her elegant melodies and exquisite melancholy and loopy banter. After the devastating one-two punch of Baby, Now That I’ve Found You and Ghost in This House: “The sadder the song, the better. We don’t want the crops growin’. We don’t like anything good to happen.”

One of the good things that didn’t happen: a Willie/Alison duet. Get ’em next time. With this guy, you know there’ll be one.

www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2014/05/15/concert-review-willie-nelson-alison-krauss.html

[philly]

Review: Willie Nelson at Koka Booth

May 22, 2014 | Story by: Matt Young | Categories: Community, Featured, Music

willie-nelson

Cary, NC — Every time I plop down a lawn chair on the pine straw of Koka Booth Amphitheatre I am reminded how lucky we are to have this venue in our town. When country legend Willie Nelson was in town I had to go. It was a plus that I would get to hear the angelic voice of Alison Krauss along with Union Station.

Alison Krauss and Union Station

With Alison Krauss there were no surprises. After a little speech about how the moment she lands here in North Carolina that she is happy – “even people in the airport are … well … nice” – they broke into “The Lucky One”. I feel the same way about Koka Booth Amphitheatre.

Midway through their set the crowd got involved when Krauss and band played “I am a Man of Constant Sorrow”. The male singer in the band, John “Dan” Tyminski, was the Soggy Bottom Boys voice for George Clooney in the hit from the movie “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?”.

Krauss and the Station were great. Nailed them all. Candy for bluegrass addicts.

Comments

Bruce Cotton Reply
May 22, 2014 at 2:08 PM

I love Koka Booth. What a great venue!

I had seen Willie years ago, and he is just as good today. He knows how to manage his age – but his performance is what you would expect from a legend. It was nice to see him interact with the crowd, and do autographs afterwards.

We’ve also seen Alison a few times, and it was apparent they were using her voice less at this show – but it was easily made up for by Jerry Douglas and the other incredible talent. She is a great combination with anyone, like in the recent Robert Plant duo… but this was a nice match with Willie.

Thanks to all the KB staff – you all are great!

carycitizen.com/2014/05/22/review-willie-nelson-at-koka-booth/

[philly]

Concert Review: Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss and Kacey Musgraves at Snowden Grove Amphitheater

June 6, 2014

By Chris Herrington, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn.

June 06--When I previewed this triple-bill last week, I posited it as an alternative -- if not "alternative" -- idea of what country music is, one that pushes the army of indistinct young hunks aside to make room for women and older gentlemen, one where dusty outlaw country, bluegrass and popwise women's stories hold more sway than cookie-cutter anthems about trucks and beer.

In practice, though, on a lovely June night where earlier thunderstorms proved more balm than disruption, cooling the summer air, it turned out to be something different. It felt more like the stages of life, or like a multigenerational family of which you'd love to be a member.

Musgraves, 25 years old with only one (excellent) album to her name and palling around with Katy Perry when she's not opening country shows, was colorful and coltish. In truth, we nearly missed her. My wife and I parked our car at 7:20 and were greeted to the sounds of Musgraves' prickly, smart small-town lament "Merry Go 'Round" as we made our way into the park and her closing "Follow Your Arrow" after we finally got settled. Performing with full all-boy band amid a neon-cactus setting, Musgraves, a onetime teen yodelling champ, brought her guys around her at the end for a playful a cappella rendition of "Happy Trails."

Nelson, 81, took the stage later with his "family" band and well-worn acoustic, playing his classic riffs and sing-speaking his classic songs with no regard for tempo or completion. He gave the impression of being too old and too awesome to care if stuff sounded right, or whatever. And if you had a problem with that, the problem was yours. It seems like Nelson releases a new album every other week these days, but he mostly stuck to the familiar: "Good-Hearted Woman," "Whiskey River," "Hey Good Lookin'," "Help Me Make it Through the Night," "Funny How Time Slips Away," "Crazy." The truest anthem of all: "On the Road Again."

If Nelson was the headliner and legend and Musgraves the compelling new kid on the block, it was mid-life, mid-career Krauss -- She's a woman. She's 42. -- who stole the show with a polished, professional but still surprising middle set.

Krauss played with her long-time band Union Station -- 24 years together, she said from the stage. They played all-acoustic -- two guitars, an upright bass, featured player Jerry Douglas on a shiny dobro and Krauss supplementing with her own fiddle -- and for the second half of their set gathered around a single microphone, in the classic bluegrass manner.

Krauss & Co.'s set ranged across her career, with heavy dollops from the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, including "Down to the River to Pray" and, with sidekick Dan Tyminski (George Clooney's singing voice in the movie) on lead, "Man of Constant Sorrow," and nuggets from her early days, including "Baby, Now That I've Found You" and "Everytime I Say Goodbye." Krauss also did an abbreviated reading of "Whiskey Lullabye," her hit duet with Brad Paisley

I adore Now That I've Found You: A Collection, the 1995 compilation that introduced Krauss to a world beyond the bluegrass margins, and enjoyed her recent collaboration with Robert Plant (Raising Sand) more than I could have imagined. But, in truth, much of her more recent music blands out to me. But when Krauss gets ahold of a good song -- or, often, just an indelible melody -- she can take it places few singers can.

The last time I saw Krauss onstage it was at Mud Island Amphitheatre alongside Plant, where she took the stage with an ethereal glamor that matched her angelic voice. It was perhaps more interesting and more startling to see and hear her at Snowden Grove, in a more low-key vibe, wearing dark pants and a simple blouse and interacting with her band and the audience between songs in her flat out-state Illinois accent, homey and sometimes lovably flakey. And then that impossibly pure voice emanates from that unassuming little package.

On this night, with daughter (maybe niece) Musgraves still putting it all together and Grandpa Shotgun Willie retelling musical stories you (usually) never tire of hearing, it was Krauss who was in her prime, holding this makeshift concert family together.

It's easy to imagine the scene on a collective tour bus that doesn't actually exist. To see Krauss doting over Nelson, making sure he's taking the right medication and graciously re-playing familiar conversations before sending him off to bed, and then offering Musgraves boyfriend advice and dispensing some cash to help with the rent before seeing her off to a post-concert night out. Then, with everyone else taken care of and finally some well-earned time to herself, she sinks into the couch with a glass of red wine and "The Good Wife" on the DVR. Like grown-ups do.
www.hispanicbusiness.com/2014/6/6/concert_review_willie_nelson_alison_krauss.htm

[nascarholly]

^^^ Alison's first album with Union Station was released in 1989 which was 25 years ago, not 24.

God bless you and AKUS always!!!

Holly (a fan of them for 20 years now)

[philly]

Ronnie BLACK?


Country "under the stars"

Music fans fill the Snowden Grove Amphitheater in Southaven Thursday evening as Kacey Musgraves, Alison Krauss and Union Station and Willie Nelson and Family kick off the Summer Concert Series. Photo by Bob Bakken

Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss start concert series
By BOB BAKKEN
Staff Writer

Published: Saturday, June 7, 2014 6:08 AM CDT

SOUTHAVEN - Fans of country music had a perfect night to enjoy legendary artist Willie Nelson and Family and the country bluegrass talents of Alison Krauss and Union Station, who opened Green Machine Entertainment's summer concert series at the Snowden Grove Amphitheater Thursday night.

The performances of Krauss and Nelson, along with opening act Kacey Musgraves and held before a large and appreciative audience at the outdoor venue, came after afternoon rains had cooled and made more comfortable a June evening.

It was the start of the ninth year for top entertainment to grace the Snowden Grove stage.

Krauss made note of the storms that went through the area in her opening comments Thursday night.

"It was like we were watching the Weather Channel," Krauss said. "And it was live!"

Union Station banjo player Ronnie Black also connected the day's weather as he performed "Rain, Please Go Away" as part of their set.

The concert offered different styles of country music to enjoy, from the bluegrass sounds of Krauss and Union Station, to the signature country sounds of Nelson, the singer-songwriter-activist who is also an author, poet and actor.

Nelson played his set with a huge Texas state flag hanging from the back of the stage to show his Texas roots.

"Willie Nelson, I have been a fan of his all my life," said Beth Lovorn of Olive Branch. "I'd love to hear 'Georgia (On My Mind).'"

Nelson made sure he got in as many songs as he could during his set, opening up with a steady rendition of tunes with little to stop it beyond a brief introduction of others on stage, all while the music kept going.

His opening medley included "Good Hearted Woman," which got his fans to sing along, to other notables, such as "Crazy."

Krauss chose to take moments to introduce and then spotlight each member of Union Station as their set went on.

Guitarist Jerry Douglas got an extra response as he related that he had married a girl from Memphis and his daughter was attending Ole Miss, a statement which brought cheers and a "Hotty Toddy" chant from a section of Ole Miss seniors he acknowledged.

Other songs performed by Krauss and Union Station Thursday night included "Restless," their cover of the Shenandoah hit "Ghost In This House," "Dixie," and the 2002 hit, "When You Say Nothing At All."

The amphitheater setting at Snowden Grove is one that attracted fans like McKelvie to come out and enjoy country "under the stars."

"I have come to several concerts here, actually," she said. "I like that you can sit out here on the grass and still see everything like you were sitting down in front."

[philly]

blogs.mcall.com/lehighvalleymusic/2014/06/willie-nelson-alison-krauss-and-kacey-musgraves-surprise-sands-in-different-ways.html
June 12, 2014
REVIEW: Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss and special guest surprise Sands in different ways
Posted by The Morning Call at 02:36:35 PM on June 12, 2014

At 81, country singer Willie Nelson certainly can be expected to have bad nights, as he did a year ago when he stopped at Sands Bethlehem Event Center and his age (and bad guitar tuning) seemed to finally have caught up with him.

The surprise of Nelson’s return engagement at the venue Wednesday wasn’t that he was better, but how much better – perhaps his best area show this decade.

But it should have been no surprise how good Nelson’s co-headliner, bluegrass icon Alison Krauss and her band Union Station, were. And that was very good, indeed.

And there was a surprise guest for the night, too – a double Grammy Award winner this year.

Willie Nelson at Sands Bethlehem Event Center

Nelson blazed through a 23-song, 75-minute set that, except for song order, didn’t differ much from the other shows he’s played in recent years at Allentown’s Coca-Cola Park, Penn’s Peak near Jim Thorpe or his first event center show – including most of his best-known hits.

Willie Nelson live new 4What differed was Nelson’s approach. From the start – the usual ramshackle opening with “Whiskey River” -- Nelson seemed engaged and revived.

His vocals, which in recent years has increasingly lapsed to talk-singing as he raced through his set, were far different Wednesday. On the second song, “Still is Still Moving to Me,” Nelson actually did some scat-singing. And on an excellent “Beer for My Horses,” he added real inflections.

Nelson seemed to catch at least moments of good singing on every song. On “Mamas, Don’t Let You Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” he growled the chorus, “Mamas!” before letting the nearly sold-out audience gleefully finish. On “On the Road Again,” he sang in snippets, but well.

And he added some nice inflections – and some depth -- on “Georgia on My Mind,” and the audience rewarded him with a big hand.

Nelson’s guitar playing also was significantly improved over his last visit, though his very worn guitar Trigger sometimes didn’t cooperate.

Nelson's worn guitar Trigger didn't always cooperate

With no other guitarist in the band, Nelson played lead the leads all night. He played intricate solos on “Funny How Time Slips Away” and “Help Me Make it Through the Night,” and some of his best, and most expressive, on “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.”

When he played a scrubbing-strummed interlude on “Nightlife,” it was good, and an instrumental two-thirds through his set was perhaps his best guitar – incredibly dexterous for an octogenarian. If there was one complaint about his playing, it was that it occasionally got more attention than his singing, such as on “Angels Flying Too Close to the Ground.”

Nelson’s five-person band was mostly spare, except for his sister Bobbie on piano. Her twinkling honky tonk playing drove a cover of Waylon Jennings’ “Good Hearted Woman,” to which harmonica player Mickey Raphael added warm harp. A solo performance of “Down Yonder” had the crowd clapping along.

All of those elements seemed to come together on perhaps Nelson’s biggest hit, an emotional “Always on My Mind.” Neslon’s band was at its most expressive, and Nelson’s singing perhaps at its best.

Also very good was a new song, the title tune off his upcoming album “Band of Brothers,” to be released Tuesday. It was very much classic outlaw Nelson, with the refrain, “You can’t tell me what to do,” and he sang it well – and as if he authentically meant it.

Nelson closed out the show with a rousing run of “I’ll Fly Away” and “Will The Circle Be Unbroken,” bringing out Krauss and her four man Union Station to perform with them. They also performed Nelson’s “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die,” then the Hank Williams gospel tune “I Saw the Light.”

The ensemble was joined – unannounced -- by Kacey Musgraves, who this year won two Grammy Awards and is touring with Nelson and Krauss, but wasn’t on the bill for the event center.

Musgraves, who also won the Academy of Country Music’s Album of the Year this year, will be with them at The Mann Center in Philadelphia on Friday, June 13, after appearing on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” tonight, June 12.

Krauss’s 19-song,hour-and-18-minute set was no surprise, but it was, indeed, a delight.

What was a surprise was how much of her set Krauss surrendered to her Union Station band – turning over nearly half the songs to them as she simply added fine fiddle.

But that was fine. The songs they played, most with guitarist Dan Tyminski singing, were equally brilliant. The night’s second song, “Dust Bowl Children,” was brooding and foreboding, with Tyminski singing in a horn of a voice over fast-picked guitar, banjo and fiddle. Later, he was similarly good on “Man of Constant Sorrow.”

The members of Union Station all are amazing musicians. Jerry Douglas, who played resonator guitar, even took over the stage alone for a schooling display playing on an instrumental. The crowd whooping him along. Then he was joined by Tyminski another great turn on “Hey Brother.”

Alison Krauss and Union Station
Photo by John J. Moser

The full band returned for “The Boy Who Wouldn’t Hoe Corn” – so good, the crowd spontaneously clapped along.

But Krauss’s voice is other-worldly. From the opening “Let Me Touch You For Awhile,” backed by quiet instrumentation, it was perfect and precise. On “The Lucky One,” her voice was as sweet and smooth as honey. A cover of The Foundation’s “Baby Now That I’ve Found You” was pure, quiet country.

And on “A Ghost in This House,” with Krauss in a spotlight, it was impossibly high – and the texture of her singing was as heartbreaking as the lyrics.

“We like a good sad song,” Krauss jokingly told the crowd. “We like them really sad. We don’t want anyone listening to us feeling good.”

But the songs that closed the set made precisely that point. “Paper Airplane” was simply angelic, and crushingly heartbreaking at the same time. Another of the night’s best, “When You Say Nothing At All,” with Tyminski and banjo player Ron Block gathered with Krauss around a single mic, raised goosebumps.

On “Down in the River to Pray,” Krauss’s voice was high to the point of fragility, starting a cappella then emphasized by three hummed voices behind her. And the closing “Your Long Journey” was funereal.

The only surprise would have been if anyone in the audience wasn’t amazed.

[philly]

Willie Nelson headlines stellar trio of acts at Radio City

Willie Nelson is 81 and still going strong, as his Tuesday night show at Radio City Music hall shows. (David McClister)
Jay Lustig/The Star-Ledger
on June 12, 2014 at 7:16 AM, updated June 12, 2014 at 7:20 AM

As a concert performer, Willie Nelson is the ultimate pro, but also always seems like someone who just figured out something new the night before. His music is gratifyingly familiar, but also offers an undercurrent of unpredictability.

He sings standard after standard in his finely grained, unaffected voice and takes ragged but sometimes revelatory solos on his old, beat-up acoustic guitar. He plays with a band but seems to float above the other musicians, dancing around the rhythm, following his own eccentric flow. Everything feels off the cuff but is, of course, informed by nearly 60 years in the business.

The rawness of the music he’s still making at 81 seemed particularly bracing at Radio City Music Hall on Tuesday, when Alison Krauss & Union Station (joined by dobro master Jerry Douglas) and Kacey Musgraves opened for him. If you were looking to put together a triple bill showing just how wide the country umbrella can be, you couldn’t do much better.

Bluegrass-pop star Krauss played second, so the shift seemed particularly drastic when Nelson took the stage — Krauss’ music is just as real and deep as his, but it’s pristine and polished in ways his isn’t.

Nelson covered an amazing amount of ground, often stringing songs together in medleys or truncating them so they wouldn’t take up too much time. He turned in reasonably spirited versions of signature numbers such as “On the Road Again,” “Always on My Mind” and “Whiskey River,” made “Beer for My Horses” and “Good Hearted Woman” into ardent singalongs, and dipped into the songbooks of artists such as Tom T. Hall (“Shoeshine Man”) and Billy Joe Shaver (“Georgia on a Fast Train”).

The crowd seemed to take particular delight in the mischievous storytelling of “Me and Paul.” “Almost busted in Laredo but for reasons that I’d rather not disclose/But if you’re stayin’ in a motel there and leave, just don’t leave nothin’ in your clothes,” Nelson sang, as if confiding a secret.

“Band of Brothers,” the title track of Nelson’s new album (due out Tuesday), was a typically big-hearted but also rebellious anthem (“We’re a band of brothers and sisters and whatever/On a mission to break all the rules”). And though there weren’t any duets with Krauss or Musgraves, they, their respective bands and various other unintroduced guests joined in for a celebratory set of encores — “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” “I’ll Fly Away” and more — followed by an extended hand-shaking and autograph-signing session at the lip of the stage by country’s longest-reigning populist giant.

While Nelson had no problem filling Radio City with his personality, Krauss and Union Station are better experienced in a smaller venue, where Krauss’ warm voice and her (and her band’s) routinely dazzling musicianship can be heard more intimately. Still, an opportunity to see a world-class band like this as an opening act is a pretty great deal.

They may be experiencing a bit of a bump in popularity these days, as electronic dance artist Avicii has had a worldwide hit with “Hey Brother,” featuring vocals by Union Station guitarist and occasional lead singer Dan Tyminski. Krauss talked briefly about this song, deadpanning that at first she thought Avicii was a perfume, and Tyminski and Douglas performed a stripped-down duet version of it, making it sound more timeless than you might have thought possible.

Musgraves, the relative newcomer on the bill (though a pretty big star in her own right), surely won over some new fans among the Willie diehards with the sharp craftsmanship and blue-collar details of her songs. She peaked with her aching ballad “It Is What It Is.” And “Follow Your Arrow” seemed inspired by the same rowdy, all-embracing spirit of “Band of Brothers,” with Musgraves singing: “Make lots of noise, kiss lots of boys/Or kiss lots of girls if that’s something you’re into … Just follow your arrow, wherever it points.”

Willie Nelson & Family light up Sands Bethlehem Event Center

By Kurt Bresswein | The Express-Times
on June 12, 2014 at 12:25 AM, updated June 14, 2014 at 9:11 AM

Willie Nelson returned Wednesday to the Lehigh Valley, with a fast-moving 75-minute set bounding from ballads to blues, early 1900s-saloon-style tunes to country standards.

The lights dimmed at 10 p.m. sharp inside the Sands Bethlehem Event Center, and there was the 81-year-old dressed all in black, strumming a few chords on his trusty Martin N-20 he calls Trigger. A giant Texas flag unfurled behind the Abbott native, and "Whiskey River" took flight from his six-piece Willie Nelson & Family band.

Nelson still does all his own stunts, and that means some lightning-fast guitar playing. His was the only guitar on stage, paired with a piano played by his younger sister, Bobbie Nelson, along with a bass player, two percussionists and a harmonica player.

"Let's do one for Waylon," he said as the outfit launched into "Good-Hearted Woman" from his old, and late, stage-mate Waylon Jennings.

Nelson's gravely voice still hits a surprising range, and was mostly crisp, though sometimes faded and papery. But it's Willie Nelson, who's been recording music since 1956, and he sounds just like you'd hope he would.

His backup band brought the kind of stripped-down accompaniment Nelson's fans came to love on albums like the "The Red-Headed Stranger." Bobbie Nelson played the rollicking "Down Yonder" off that album, at once turning the cavernous Sands event center into a dusty saloon somewhere between Blue Rock, Montana, and Denver.

Harmonica player Mickey Raphael is something to behold in his own right, alternating from delicate timekeeping to wailing, blazing solos. The three-piece rhythm section was remarkable, as well, if only for lying low in the background, keeping Willie Nelson's loose guitar-playing style in check.

Nelson spoke little, other than to introduce songs. He's been to the Valley before, including performing in Allentown in July 2009, at Coca-Cola Park on a triple-bill with Bob Dylan and John Mellencamp. He swung close by during Farm Aid 2012 at Hersheypark Stadium in September of that year.

Wednesday night, Alison Krauss with Union Station warmed up the crowd, despite their best attempts to bring them down with brutally sad songs like "Ghost in This House" featuring lines such as, "I don't pick up the mail, I don't pick up the phone, I don't answer the door, I'd just as soon as be alone."

"We like a good sad song," Krauss wryly told the crowd. "We like 'em real sad. We don't like anyone listening to us to feel good about anything."

A five-piece without percussion of any kind, Krauss and Union Station played a set that was, of course, much more than melancholy. Looking lovely in a dress with red and blue hues over dark blue jeans, her blonde hair blowing slightly in an on-stage breeze, Krauss featured soaring vocals over the fiddle she kept tucked under chin for much of the night.

There was plenty of levity, too, in Krauss' between-song banter with her band members. The crowd came alive on several tunes, including the recognizable "Man of Constant Sorrow" from the 2000 Coen Brothers' film "O Brother Where Art Thou?" Union Station guitar player and singer Dan Tyminski provides George Clooney's voice in the movie and sings on the soundtrack, which also features Krauss. During the band's four-song encore following its 16-song set, the 27-time Grammy winner sang a snippet from "Down in the River to Pray," one of her contributions to that soundtrack.

Krauss and Union Station have toured together for more than two decades. Their music harkens back much farther. Tyminski sang about jobs lost to machines in "Dust Bowl Children," with a feel straight out of the Great Depression. Krauss paid homage to country's great female vocalists before her with lines like, "I'm all that's left of two hearts on fire," also from "Ghost in This House"; "Hearts on Fire" was one of the hits the late Gram Parsons had with Emmylou Harris at his side.

Krauss and her band joined Nelson and company on stage for a medley of the country standards "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" and "I'll Fly Away," with Union Station featured musician Jerry Douglas trading in his Dobro for a lap steel and trading solos with Nelson's Raphael.

Before closing with Hank Williams' "I Saw the Light," Nelson introduced "a new gospel song for y'all": "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die" off his 2012 release "Heroes."

But contrary to the lyrics, among Wednesday night's packed house and around the world, there will be many a sad and lonely eye when he gets his wings and it's his time to fly. Until then, he's sure to keep on touring.

[philly]

www.phillymag.com/ticket/2014/06/16/review-willie-nelson-alison-krauss-lots-weed-mann-music-center/
Review: Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss, and Lots of Weed at the Mann Music Center
By Christine Speer Lejeune | June 16, 2014 at 10:13 am

There is likely nowhere in Philadelphia better suited to host Willie Nelson than the Mann Center — if not because nothing says summer like sitting on a blanket under the stars listening to “On the Road Again,” then because the smell of weed just doesn’t waft so discreetly in, say, the Academy of Music as it does from the Mann’s, er, grass seating.

And for the Friday night Willie show, there was weed, of course, as well as more than your average number of beards, braids and boots per capita in Philly. It was, in other words, exactly what you’d expect from a Willie Nelson show in many ways.

What wasn’t as expected (at least by me) was how much overall enthusiasm there was for Willie’s tour partners, Alison Krauss and the Union Station. Not that the excitement isn’t justified — Krauss’s voice is as enchanting as ever, and the band plays easily some of the best, most accessible bluegrass out there. It was a stage full of stars.

But who knew that the same crowd who would later scream a raucous chorus of “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die” would also be so happy to get misty over Krauss’s sweet, easy-listening country ballads? It’s a testament to that voice.

Krauss’s singing partner and guitarist, the popular Dan Tyminsky (a.k.a. the singing voice of George Clooney in O Brother Where Art Thou) is no slouch, either: He actually sounds like the Appalachians -- a strong, plaintive voice that’s all peaks and valleys. If folks didn’t arrive in the mood for a little country, they were definitely there by the time Willie ambled on the stage, just as a giant Texas flag unfurled behind him.

Because his music is timeless and his fanbase is diverse, It’s easy to forget that Willie Nelson is a man creeping into his ninth decade on this earth. No disrespect here, but you remember it, a bit, when he sings: That voice — warm, full, so Willie — is still there, but these days, the lyrics are part-sung, part-spoken.

He’s still playing lead guitar, and would sometimes sing/speak whole lines ahead of the beat, then play, and so on; it reminded you, as one clever friend remarked, of shoes in the dryer. (Bum, bum, bum, BA-DUM ….. bum, bum, bum, BA-DUM, BA-DUM.) Though to be fair, the unexpected syncopation might just be owed to the fact that Willie has been playing these songs for decades … maybe he just wants to change it up a little?

In any case, he’s still Willie, and that’s what matters. His voice — speaking or singing — still evokes the same sense of nostalgia, of joviality, of a desire (if only for a minute) to take yourself back home to your place down South (whether you even have a home down South or not.) Surely life is simpler — and better — there. At least in Willie’s world.

As the show came to a close, Willie was joined on stage by Krauss, Union Station, and all the openers for a couple old hymns ("Will the Circle Be Unbroken," "I’ll Fly Away") that had the whole place on its feet, and clapping along. It felt a bit like a summer tent revival (in a good way), and again, it’s hard to imagine a better venue for it than the Mann: all open-air and sprawling lawns and gentle wisps of pot smoke blowing in the breeze.

[philly]

articles.philly.com/2014-06-16/news/50626804_1_willie-nelson-alison-krauss-kacey-musgraves
Musgrave, Krauss, Nelson at the Mann
Willie Nelson offered improvised takes on his classics at the Mann Center.
By Sam Adams, For The Inquirer
Posted: June 16, 2014

With its suggestion to "Make lots of noise / Kiss lots of boys / Or kiss lots of girls if that's something you're into," Kacey Musgraves' "Follow Your Arrow" is a few pickup trucks short of your typical country-radio hit, although it does explain why she taped an episode of CMT's Crossroads with Katy Perry and will tour with her this year.

At the Mann Center on Friday night, where she preceded the less risque bill of Willie Nelson and Alison Krauss, Musgraves wrapped up with "Happy Trails," her band clustered around a single microphone, Grand Ole Opry style. But as she belted out Dale Evans' tune in a pink rubber skirt, her band's Nudie suits lit up and twinkled like Christmas trees - traditionalism with a twist.

Although Musgraves' too-brief set was pushed up to leave more time for the headliners, the substantial audience rose to its feet when she was done, bikers and bluegrass aficionados alike.

On the spectrum that runs from country's reverence for the past to its love of the solitary outlaw, Krauss and her longtime band, Union Station, hewed closest to the former, without so much as a drum kit to alter the formula.

But Krauss' sweet, twangless vocals and her taste for pop melodies were more evocative of Dionne Warwick than Hazel Dickens, and her sense of humor - she described dobro player Jerry Douglas' highly polished instrument as a "perfect hunting tool" for its ability to blind prey - was more prime-time variety special than square dance. (She would have killed on The Muppet Show.)

Tradition hasn't adapted to Willie Nelson so much as carved him out his own custom-fit niche. Artists of his stature can be suffocated by their past glories, each must-play hit another barnacle-like encrustation on a battleship hull, but Nelson prefers to travel light: Apart from a grand piano, the rest of his five-piece band's gear could have fit in the back of a van. He treats his old favorites like jazz standards, throwing away the melody lines to leave more room for his unpredictable guitar playing.

And it wasn't just the familiar songs: Even "Band of Brothers," the title track from an album that comes out Tuesday, got the same treatment. For Nelson, they're all part of his past, and he keeps moving into the future.

[philly]

One fans review:

[philly]

www.rollingstone.com/music/news/willie-nelson-alison-krauss-enchant-seattle-stage-20150629

Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss Enchant Seattle Stage

Two very different bands form an enjoyably mismatched partnership on summer tour

By Mike Seely June 29, 2015

Alison Krauss Alison Krauss and Union Station performed with Willie Nelson in Seattle. Jeffrey Ufberg/WireImage
While their frequent bluegrass jams leave plenty of room for musical imagination, Alison Krauss and Union Station are the portrait of technical precision live. Krauss is a virtuosic fiddle player who boasts a voice that flutters high above her band's well-choreographed ballet of strings, with Jerry Douglas' Dobro piercing through the pine.

Saturday night at tree-lined Marymoor Park in suburban Seattle, Krauss, dressed like a classical musician in a black dress shirt and slacks, relayed a remark that an anonymous observer made about Douglas' connection to his lap guitar. "I always forget it's an instrument," said the onlooker. "I always think it's his voice."

As for Krauss' voice, dry air had rendered it nearly inoperative in Utah a week ago. Fortunately for the Seattle crowd, which cooled itself with portable fans in the midst of 90-degree heat, her pipes had regained their strength by Saturday. Kicking off their set with the tender "Let Me Touch You for Awhile," the band quickly showed its range by delving into "Who's Your Uncle?", a rip-roaring instrumental composition from Douglas that Krauss told the crowd she'd nicknamed "Ride the Donkey."

"If you knew my uncle, you could call it that," joked Douglas in reply.

Union Station doesn't feature a drummer, with Krauss' rhythmic violin-tapping the closest the band gets to percussion. On Saturday, they took a plodding ballad, "Ghost in This House," and relaxed the tempo even more. After Krauss shared an anecdote about being starstruck while singing alongside Seattle native Ann Wilson during the taping of the Heart concert special Night at Sky Church, Dan Tyminski stepped in on lead vocals for the foot-stomping "Rain Please Go Away" and the tragicomic "Wild Bill Jones," glowering at the crowd like a territorial bulldog, no matter how sweetly he sang.

Among the highlights of any Union Station show are Krauss' quirky introductions of her longtime bandmates, most of whom she's been playing with for upwards of 20 years. Introducing banjo player Ron Block, she revealed that he's from Torrance, California, "where they like to make a lot of vegetarians, but not our Ronnie." She later engaged in a hilariously nuanced conversation about fowl hunting with bassist Barry Bales, and remarked of Tyminski's strange-bedfellow collaboration ("Hey Brother") with the Swedish DJ Avicii, "We didn't know who Avicii was. We though it was a mysterious skin growth or something."

After Krauss and Union Station's short encore that included a gorgeous, a cappella version of "Down to the River to Pray," co-headliner Willie Nelson and his family band quickly got joints blazing and toes tapping on a more earthbound kind of grass. (Kenny Chesney was simultaneously playing at a football stadium a few miles away, but the amount of shoeless feet at Marymoor doubtless had No Shoes Nation licked.) A Lone Star flag was dramatically unfurled as Nelson and his disarmingly casual crew started their set with "Whiskey River." In stark contrast to Krauss and her collaborators, fully half of Nelson's band consists of percussionists, with a drumline fronted by Paul English, a real-life outlaw who doubles as the group's enforcer. Whereas Krauss and Union Station present themselves as the best musicians that could possibly have been curated for inclusion in their band, Nelson's sidemen, while perfectly competent, appear as though they've been enlisted simply because the braided legend likes having them around.

Most aging musicians who choose to stay on the road justifiably recruit younger players who compensate for whatever artistic shortcomings advanced maturation might wreak. Not Nelson. At 82, his guitar-playing remains nimble and adventurous, to the point where it could qualify as free jazz; he never plays the same solo twice, straying far from a tune's rhythm before miraculously finding his way back to the beat.

While Nelson's set featured most of his classic hits, including "Always on My Mind" and "On the Road Again," he played nearly as many covers as originals, with Mickey Raphael's harmonica buoying Lefty Frizzell's "If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time." Like most of his bandmates, Raphael, a tall, striking presence clad in black denim, meanders around the stage as though he's oblivious to the thousands of faces staring back at him.

Toward the end of the set, after Nelson introduced "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die" as a "new gospel song" he'd written, two of his offspring, Micah and Amy, stepped to a microphone near their dad, slung their arms around one another and sang call-and-response backing vocals while Amy recorded the proceedings on a smartphone. At that point, attendees must have felt as though they'd crashed a raucous family party, with the coolest granddad ever leading sing-alongs on a resin-stained guitar.

[philly]

Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss shine despite rainy concert at L.A’s Greek Theatre
www.sgvtribune.com/arts-and-entertainment/20150719/willie-nelson-alison-krauss-shine-despite-rainy-concert-at-las-greek-theatre
By Sara Farr
Posted: 07/19/15, 11:48 AM PDT | Updated: 3 days ago

Though the rain may have dampened the seats of the Greek Theatre on Saturday night, it certainly didn’t dampen the mood at the Willie Nelson and Alison Krauss concert.

Opener Alison Krauss delivered an hour-plus set comprised of traditional hits and originals played expertly by Union Station and special guest Jerry Douglas. Highlights included “Dust Bowl Children,” a cover of the Foundations’ “Baby Now That I’ve Found You” and Krauss original “Ghost In This House,” while Warren, Ohio-native Douglas contributed two bluegrass versions of tunes by jazz great Chick Corea and American songwriter Paul Simon.

Guitarist Dan Tyminski, the voice of George Clooney in “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?,” duetted with Krauss on several numbers, their voices combining for a modified two-person take on the traditional high-lonesome bluegrass stack. Banjoist Ron Block, a Torrance native, was a treat; his picking skills this night easily show why he has won 14 Grammy Awards.

Krauss’ between-song banter was at times odd and stilted, but good-natured and kind. In contrast, her vocals were strong and assured. Her delivery and craftsmanship as a musician carried the set, evidenced by the ease and skill with which she led the band — many of whom have been playing alongside her for more than 20 years. She created a feeling of quiet intimacy under a cloud-filled sky, many of the audience singing softly along to her songs about lost love and opportunities. Ending with two a cappella numbers, Krauss deftly paved the way for Nelson’s roadhouse show.

A little thunderstorm doesn't stop Willie Nelson at the Greek
www.ocregister.com/articles/nelson-672479-little-krauss.html
Updated July 20, 2015 12:26 p.m.

Nelson’s co-headliner, Alison Krauss & Union Station, are celebrating their 25th year together and making it special with a set filled with hits, including selections off movie soundtracks like “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and “Cold Mountain,” which helped further launch their bluegrass music into the spotlight. Though Krauss’ soft, wispy vocal and fiddle tend to take center stage, she is backed by an extremely tight group of musicians, including vocalist-guitarist Dan Tyminski, who was the singing voice of actor George Clooney in “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” Ron Block, a Torrance native, rocked it on banjo, while Barry Bales set the pace on upright bass and Jerry Douglas rounded out the sound on the Dobro.

After they opened with “Let Me Touch You for a While” and a cover of Peter Rowan’s “Dust Bowl Children,” a little rain started to fall and people freaked out. The band continued to play as audience members scurried to cover themselves with ponchos and raincoats. When the second track was finished, Krauss smiled and made a quick apology for the sprinkle. “We can’t see it, but we can see what’s happening, and we’re sorry.”

The band kept on through “Restless,” a cover of the Fountains’ “Baby, Now That I’ve Found You” and a hauntingly beautiful version of Shenandoah’s “Ghost in This House.” Fans cheered as they broke into the very appropriately placed and titled “Rain Please Go Away.” Krauss & Co. closed the set perfectly with their version of Keith Whitley’s “When You Say Nothing at All.”