Post by fogcitygal on Dec 3, 2004 21:13:52 GMT -5
Springfield News-Leader
Published December 3, 2004
Alison Krauss talks about music, success and life on the road.
By Michael A. Brothers
News-Leader
Alison Krauss may be as close as any person gets to being a superstar when it comes to bluegrass musicians.
If you've watched TV lately, you've probably seen her. This year Krauss has performed at the CMT Flameworthy Awards, the Country Music Association Awards, the Academy Awards and at the Grammy Awards, where she won in three categories, bringing her career Grammy take to 17.
Krauss' duet with Brad Paisley, "Whiskey Lullaby," earned Musical Event of the Year honors at the CMA Awards last month.
All the exposure was just a prelude to the release last week of a new Alison Krauss and Union Station album, "Lonely Runs Both Ways." The group has just kicked off a nationwide tour that includes a stop Monday at the Shrine Mosque in Springfield.
We talked to Krauss from the road about getting rested, how she and her bandmates choose songs and why no one sings a sad song like she does.
Question: You've been all over lately. Maybe you should look into getting your own cable channel?
Alison Krauss: Oh, I don't think so. I don't think so.
Q. Is this part of the business particularly tough on you and the band with the new album release, touring and all the publicity?
A. We really have never been this busy before, so this is really out of the ordinary with as much as we've been doing lately. Once we get out on the road we'll begin to get some rest.
Q. That's unusual to hear.
A. It's really true, though. It's a much calmer part of life for us. ... When (the tour is) driving, you're sleeping. I really feel like I can catch up on my sleep out there.
Q. What does it mean for bluegrass when one of its most well-known performers is in the mainstream spotlight so much?
A. I would hope that with anything a bluegrass band does (to) bring attention to bluegrass music that everybody is happy with it. With the recent movies that have featured acoustic music, it's really made a big difference to everybody involved in bluegrass. The difference that I heard in talking to friends that all make their living the same way — it's just amazing what it did getting it out there.
Q. What do you think fans who are getting to know you through songs like "Whiskey Lullaby" are going to find on the new album?
A. I hope they connect with the tunes we pick out. I hope the people like it. We ended up liking it or we wouldn't have handed it in. I wouldn't know what people are going to think other than we finished it, and we were happy with. At the end of the day, that's what matters.
Q. It seems nobody does a sad song like you do. Are those songs particularly fun for you or do they fit you better?
A. It's not that I'm looking for that subject. I'm not looking for it to be sad. It's just those are the ones that really move me and have (moved me). If the songs that are really positive move me, then we'll do those, too. But I think we just find more that are negative that seem to do that. If I feel something when we're hearing it, then we'll do it.
Q. Last time we spoke you said the band looks to you to choose which songs to record or to at least whittle it down, and you said you really relish that process. Can you tell me what you saw or heard in the four songs by Robert Lee Castleman and the Del McCoury and Woody Guthrie tunes?
A. I'll bring a bunch of stuff to the table then we all decide on it at the end. Everybody is of course welcome to and will bring stuff and (through the) years (they) have. It's not just me doing that. We all decide together as a group what goes on the record.
"Pastures of Plenty," the Woody Guthrie song, I have known about for 20 years just from going to bluegrass festivals. There's a guy named Dave Evans who would sing that song and he would just make us freak out. ... We all always loved it and I thought "What a great song to record" years and years ago, but just didn't have the right place.
Q. What about the Del McCoury song?
A. We were short another up tempo song for Dan to sing and we were looking for something that would be a straight-ahead bluegrass song, that type of song. Barry had gone through all his records and I have been racking my brain, everybody had been. (Then) I was sitting in my living room and we were all working on harmonies and I said "Rain Please Go Away" and Barry goes, "Yep." It was just a thought that popped into my head.
Q. You did four songs by Robert Lee Castleman. He's just somebody you guys really identify with?
A. I really do. I think those songs, he's got so many that I absolutely love and so many of them are very male and too autobiographical from his life for me to get to cover them. ... With "Restless," that song is a very personal song for him but with a woman singing it can be very tongue-in-cheek and that worked out.
It just sounds like you've known those songs your whole life but it's a brand-new melody and brand-new lyrics (and) you're singing along. I think the way he puts lyrics together is just amazing, and his melodies are like nobody elses'.
Q. There's a word people have associated with the albums you've recorded in the last few years: polished. Does that fit? Where has that come from?
A. I can see polished being more something that would be associated with earlier albums. What I mean by that is we were more anal as far as perfection technically. Now that's not what turns us on. Like "Every Time You Say Goodbye" was really the height of our analness. That's really relaxed through the years. (We're) definitely the most relaxed on this record.
Want to go?
What: Alison Krauss and Union Station
When: 8 p.m. Monday
Where: Shrine Mosque, 601 St. Louis St.
Cost: Tickets are $40.75
Call: 869-0529
Published December 3, 2004
Alison Krauss talks about music, success and life on the road.
By Michael A. Brothers
News-Leader
Alison Krauss may be as close as any person gets to being a superstar when it comes to bluegrass musicians.
If you've watched TV lately, you've probably seen her. This year Krauss has performed at the CMT Flameworthy Awards, the Country Music Association Awards, the Academy Awards and at the Grammy Awards, where she won in three categories, bringing her career Grammy take to 17.
Krauss' duet with Brad Paisley, "Whiskey Lullaby," earned Musical Event of the Year honors at the CMA Awards last month.
All the exposure was just a prelude to the release last week of a new Alison Krauss and Union Station album, "Lonely Runs Both Ways." The group has just kicked off a nationwide tour that includes a stop Monday at the Shrine Mosque in Springfield.
We talked to Krauss from the road about getting rested, how she and her bandmates choose songs and why no one sings a sad song like she does.
Question: You've been all over lately. Maybe you should look into getting your own cable channel?
Alison Krauss: Oh, I don't think so. I don't think so.
Q. Is this part of the business particularly tough on you and the band with the new album release, touring and all the publicity?
A. We really have never been this busy before, so this is really out of the ordinary with as much as we've been doing lately. Once we get out on the road we'll begin to get some rest.
Q. That's unusual to hear.
A. It's really true, though. It's a much calmer part of life for us. ... When (the tour is) driving, you're sleeping. I really feel like I can catch up on my sleep out there.
Q. What does it mean for bluegrass when one of its most well-known performers is in the mainstream spotlight so much?
A. I would hope that with anything a bluegrass band does (to) bring attention to bluegrass music that everybody is happy with it. With the recent movies that have featured acoustic music, it's really made a big difference to everybody involved in bluegrass. The difference that I heard in talking to friends that all make their living the same way — it's just amazing what it did getting it out there.
Q. What do you think fans who are getting to know you through songs like "Whiskey Lullaby" are going to find on the new album?
A. I hope they connect with the tunes we pick out. I hope the people like it. We ended up liking it or we wouldn't have handed it in. I wouldn't know what people are going to think other than we finished it, and we were happy with. At the end of the day, that's what matters.
Q. It seems nobody does a sad song like you do. Are those songs particularly fun for you or do they fit you better?
A. It's not that I'm looking for that subject. I'm not looking for it to be sad. It's just those are the ones that really move me and have (moved me). If the songs that are really positive move me, then we'll do those, too. But I think we just find more that are negative that seem to do that. If I feel something when we're hearing it, then we'll do it.
Q. Last time we spoke you said the band looks to you to choose which songs to record or to at least whittle it down, and you said you really relish that process. Can you tell me what you saw or heard in the four songs by Robert Lee Castleman and the Del McCoury and Woody Guthrie tunes?
A. I'll bring a bunch of stuff to the table then we all decide on it at the end. Everybody is of course welcome to and will bring stuff and (through the) years (they) have. It's not just me doing that. We all decide together as a group what goes on the record.
"Pastures of Plenty," the Woody Guthrie song, I have known about for 20 years just from going to bluegrass festivals. There's a guy named Dave Evans who would sing that song and he would just make us freak out. ... We all always loved it and I thought "What a great song to record" years and years ago, but just didn't have the right place.
Q. What about the Del McCoury song?
A. We were short another up tempo song for Dan to sing and we were looking for something that would be a straight-ahead bluegrass song, that type of song. Barry had gone through all his records and I have been racking my brain, everybody had been. (Then) I was sitting in my living room and we were all working on harmonies and I said "Rain Please Go Away" and Barry goes, "Yep." It was just a thought that popped into my head.
Q. You did four songs by Robert Lee Castleman. He's just somebody you guys really identify with?
A. I really do. I think those songs, he's got so many that I absolutely love and so many of them are very male and too autobiographical from his life for me to get to cover them. ... With "Restless," that song is a very personal song for him but with a woman singing it can be very tongue-in-cheek and that worked out.
It just sounds like you've known those songs your whole life but it's a brand-new melody and brand-new lyrics (and) you're singing along. I think the way he puts lyrics together is just amazing, and his melodies are like nobody elses'.
Q. There's a word people have associated with the albums you've recorded in the last few years: polished. Does that fit? Where has that come from?
A. I can see polished being more something that would be associated with earlier albums. What I mean by that is we were more anal as far as perfection technically. Now that's not what turns us on. Like "Every Time You Say Goodbye" was really the height of our analness. That's really relaxed through the years. (We're) definitely the most relaxed on this record.
Want to go?
What: Alison Krauss and Union Station
When: 8 p.m. Monday
Where: Shrine Mosque, 601 St. Louis St.
Cost: Tickets are $40.75
Call: 869-0529
