Post by fogcitygal on Feb 5, 2005 4:51:14 GMT -5
Great article about Alison:
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Despite success, Alison Krauss remains a reluctant bluegrass ambassador
By Mario Tarradell
The Dallas Morning News
Feb 3, 2005
Alison Krauss & Union Station
Maybe it's modesty, or maybe she genuinely doesn't think in those terms, but getting contemporary bluegrass queen Alison Krauss to admit that she's the genre's ambassador proves more difficult than getting one of her tunes on commercial radio.
Never mind that the angelic songstress and accomplished fiddle player remains the only bluegrass artist with a handful of million-selling albums. Forget that she has more Grammys (17 to be exact) than any other woman in country music. Heck, you might as well ignore that she's the most visible performer in the down-home style created by late legend Bill Monroe. Her videos play regularly on Country Music Television, she's appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and she's even sung at the Oscars.
But no, Krauss, who is scheduled to perform with her group Union Station on Saturday at Pompano Beach Amphitheatre, can't agree with her ambassador status.
"I don't know if that's true," she says by phone from Nashville. "I'm sure there would be a lot of traditional music lovers that would not consider me a good ambassador. I like nothing more than Del McCoury, Larry Sparks and Ralph Stanley. If we're a way to get to the traditional music, then I'm thrilled."
And yet she will admit that after her gigs, folks come up to her backstage and ask for advice on what other bluegrass records to buy.
"I rattle off the list of Ralph Stanley, Larry Sparks, Del McCoury. I want them to go get the best."
Undoubtedly, Krauss and her excellent band, Union Station, become the bridge to bluegrass, music that's long struggled to shake off its rural image and gain mainstream acceptance. Her work was prominent on the whopping 7 million-selling O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. She was featured on the CD's companion album, Down From the Mountain: Live Concert Performances by the Artists & Musicians of O Brother, Where Art Thou? and its successful tour.
Krauss still speaks with amazement about the crowd reaction to some of the Mountain tour's performers, from Norman and Nancy Blake to Stanley.
"When you have a whole stadium of people cheering for Ralph Stanley, that's pretty awesome," she says. "I mean, that's what I feel like doing. I remember the very first day of the O Brother tour. Norman and Nancy Blake were singing Big Rock Candy Mountain and there was all this huge stadium reaction, all this insanity to Big Rock Candy Mountain. It was bizarre. But it's just right. It was `Whoa, this is something entirely different.'"
And she had yet another traditional bluegrass package tour inspired by a motion picture soundtrack. The Cold Mountain soundtrack (produced by T Bone Burnett, who also helmed the O Brother record) was the inspiration for The Great High Mountain Tour last summer, which featured Krauss and Union Station as well as Stanley, the Whites, the Cox Family, Norman and Nancy Blake and others. That tour spotlighted both Oscar-nominated tunes from Cold Mountain, You Will Be My Ain True Love and The Scarlet Tide. Krauss' You Will Be My Ain True Love also is a Grammy nominee for best female country vocal performance.
While conglomerate-owned radio stations ignore bluegrass, it's finding a home in high-profile movies. For that, Krauss is mighty grateful.
"The fact that the people in the movie music business and successful music producers want to showcase traditional music ... how lucky we are that they chose that to showcase. It could have been any form of music. And I think it's been showcased in such a wonderful way. It's drawing more people into it. It's accessible. You can hear it. Thanks to these movies, people are enjoying this music."
As for her own music, the follow-up to 2001's million-selling New Favorite is Lonely Runs Both Ways. It was released last year in November and already has gone gold (more than 500,000 copies sold). It's the No. 10 album this week on Billboard's country chart.
"It's my favorite yet," she says. "I'm so proud of the songs on there. It's hard for me to compare them to songs on our other CDs. You get so inside of them when you're recording them you kind of forget you made one previously."
-----------------------
Despite success, Alison Krauss remains a reluctant bluegrass ambassador
By Mario Tarradell
The Dallas Morning News
Feb 3, 2005
Alison Krauss & Union Station
Maybe it's modesty, or maybe she genuinely doesn't think in those terms, but getting contemporary bluegrass queen Alison Krauss to admit that she's the genre's ambassador proves more difficult than getting one of her tunes on commercial radio.
Never mind that the angelic songstress and accomplished fiddle player remains the only bluegrass artist with a handful of million-selling albums. Forget that she has more Grammys (17 to be exact) than any other woman in country music. Heck, you might as well ignore that she's the most visible performer in the down-home style created by late legend Bill Monroe. Her videos play regularly on Country Music Television, she's appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and she's even sung at the Oscars.
But no, Krauss, who is scheduled to perform with her group Union Station on Saturday at Pompano Beach Amphitheatre, can't agree with her ambassador status.
"I don't know if that's true," she says by phone from Nashville. "I'm sure there would be a lot of traditional music lovers that would not consider me a good ambassador. I like nothing more than Del McCoury, Larry Sparks and Ralph Stanley. If we're a way to get to the traditional music, then I'm thrilled."
And yet she will admit that after her gigs, folks come up to her backstage and ask for advice on what other bluegrass records to buy.
"I rattle off the list of Ralph Stanley, Larry Sparks, Del McCoury. I want them to go get the best."
Undoubtedly, Krauss and her excellent band, Union Station, become the bridge to bluegrass, music that's long struggled to shake off its rural image and gain mainstream acceptance. Her work was prominent on the whopping 7 million-selling O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. She was featured on the CD's companion album, Down From the Mountain: Live Concert Performances by the Artists & Musicians of O Brother, Where Art Thou? and its successful tour.
Krauss still speaks with amazement about the crowd reaction to some of the Mountain tour's performers, from Norman and Nancy Blake to Stanley.
"When you have a whole stadium of people cheering for Ralph Stanley, that's pretty awesome," she says. "I mean, that's what I feel like doing. I remember the very first day of the O Brother tour. Norman and Nancy Blake were singing Big Rock Candy Mountain and there was all this huge stadium reaction, all this insanity to Big Rock Candy Mountain. It was bizarre. But it's just right. It was `Whoa, this is something entirely different.'"
And she had yet another traditional bluegrass package tour inspired by a motion picture soundtrack. The Cold Mountain soundtrack (produced by T Bone Burnett, who also helmed the O Brother record) was the inspiration for The Great High Mountain Tour last summer, which featured Krauss and Union Station as well as Stanley, the Whites, the Cox Family, Norman and Nancy Blake and others. That tour spotlighted both Oscar-nominated tunes from Cold Mountain, You Will Be My Ain True Love and The Scarlet Tide. Krauss' You Will Be My Ain True Love also is a Grammy nominee for best female country vocal performance.
While conglomerate-owned radio stations ignore bluegrass, it's finding a home in high-profile movies. For that, Krauss is mighty grateful.
"The fact that the people in the movie music business and successful music producers want to showcase traditional music ... how lucky we are that they chose that to showcase. It could have been any form of music. And I think it's been showcased in such a wonderful way. It's drawing more people into it. It's accessible. You can hear it. Thanks to these movies, people are enjoying this music."
As for her own music, the follow-up to 2001's million-selling New Favorite is Lonely Runs Both Ways. It was released last year in November and already has gone gold (more than 500,000 copies sold). It's the No. 10 album this week on Billboard's country chart.
"It's my favorite yet," she says. "I'm so proud of the songs on there. It's hard for me to compare them to songs on our other CDs. You get so inside of them when you're recording them you kind of forget you made one previously."
