Post by fogcitygal on Apr 22, 2005 4:51:08 GMT -5
The Tennessean Friday, 04/22/05
Alison's lullaby
By PETER COOPER
Staff Writer
Bluegrass angel puts her heart into every song
The scene was a Nashville studio, where 17-year-old Alison Krauss was singing tracks for what would become her sophomore album.
Krauss' debut, Too Late To Cry, had already established her as a major force in bluegrass music. Skilled far beyond her years on the fiddle, she had not yet become a master vocalist.
''I was just singing,'' she said. ''Bill Vornthingy was producing, and we were working on a beautiful, sad song called Teardrops Will Kiss the Morning Dew.
''Bill kept stopping me and saying, 'Think about what you're singing,' '' she continued. ''I said, 'What? What was wrong?' He said, 'Think about the words. In the song, you just had your heart broken.' Until that point, I didn't get that it might make a difference in your performance to actually think about that.''
Sixteen years later, Krauss is a star not only in bluegrass but in the larger pop world. And she's known as well for her voice — Brad Paisley ''hopes that's what the angels sound like'' — as for her deft fiddle work.
Krauss has now won more Grammy awards than any female artist in history, and her heart-first vocals embody everything Vornthingy was trying to convey to her back then. Plus, her Union Station band ranks with most any ensemble working today in terms of virtuosity and musicality.
The final ingredient in her package is a song sense that rivals Emmylou Harris. Krauss seeks out songs and writers that often fall through Music Row's sidewalk cracks. She has recorded works by Robert Castleman, Sarah Siskind and other under-discovered writers, and she frequently champions the work of should-be luminaries such as Julie Lee.
''Songs have always been important to me,'' Krauss said. ''Even when I was 12 years old, I was hearing original material and singing original material by great songwriters like John Pennell. As we were playing in different clubs in Champaign (Ill.), where I was growing up, I knew that having original music was what was going to set us apart.''
When Krauss takes the Grand Ole Opry House stage Sunday evening, she'll do so with the support of an all-star band. Jerry Douglas, who helped bring the dobro back to popular favor, is a Union Station member, as are bass man Barry Bales, multi-instrumentalist Ron Block and I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow singer Dan Tyminski.
Further support comes on the corporate level. Cracker Barrel restaurants is the tour sponsor for the band that's lengthily titled Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas. One component of the sponsorship involves pre-show meet-and-greets with Cracker Barrel employees. Another element is an album of previously released material called Home on the Highways that will be released May 10 and sold at Cracker Barrel restaurants.
''For that CD, I tried to find things that fit together,'' she said. ''It seemed more natural to pick tunes that were straight-up band songs than things on my solo records where there's drums and piano and stuff. I was nervous about the song choices, but in the end I think it actually goes together well.''
After the Opry House show — the band's first Nashville concert since a Nashville Chamber Orchestra fundraiser in February 2004 — the group heads back out on the road. Union Station strives for a two-weeks on, two-weeks off schedule, but concert appearances regularly cut into the ''off'' side of that equation. When she's in town, Krauss can sometimes be seen at Greer Stadium, watching Nashville Sounds games with her son.
''I love going to the Sounds games,'' she said. ''I don't know much about baseball, but I always get a corn dog and my son goes and hugs Ozzie (the Sounds' mascot).''
Krauss grew up around baseball, as her father is a fan. While dad has patience for the national pastime, he sometimes asks his daughter to up the pace of her shows.
''One time we played the Ryman and my dad saw the show and said, 'It was a little long.' He'll come to this show at the Opry House, so I'm warning him that this one's going to be a little long, too.''
Ya gotta learn somewhere
When asked about her musical heroes, Alison Krauss often talks about these three legends:
• Tony Rice — An acoustic guitar innovator whose style is aped by many modern bluegrassers, Rice's flannel voice also is a marvel on recordings including Early Morning Rain, Old Train and Summer Wages. Like Krauss, he seeks songs from sources outside of bluegrass, recording works by Gordon Lightfoot, Phil Ochs and others. His Cold on the Shoulder (1984) album was a particular inspiration to Krauss: ''I played that one 11 hours a day when I was a kid,'' she said.
• J.D. Crowe — Banjo great Crowe always kept one of acoustic music's most progressive and inspiring ensembles. He learned his musical craft from masters such as Jimmy Martin and Earl Scruggs, and has employed notables including Jerry Douglas, Ricky Skaggs, Tony Rice and Keith Whitley in his New South ensemble. His 1975 J.D. Crowe & the New South album was a turning point for modern bluegrass, offering a sound that was at once well-rooted, intelligent and adventuresome. The sound of Alison Krauss & Union Station would not be the same had its members not been inspired by Crowe.
• Earl Scruggs — Developing the fleet-fingered banjo style that is now employed by everyone who plays the instrument is not Scruggs' only contribution to American music: His expansive musical vision helped bring bluegrass into the folk boom; his work with the Earl Scruggs Revue inspired the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and helped fuse Nashville-based music with country-rock; and he is beloved by non-bluegrass artists including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Elton John.
Alison a baseball fan ! That's great ! ;D
