Last Friday I finally got the chance to see Alison Krauss and Union Station in concert! I originally bought tickets in December of last year for a concert in February. However, come concert time, she was suffering from laryngitis and could not perform. The show was rescheduled for a date in late March. SHe and her group actually made to town that day, but she picked up a rather nasty stomach virus and couldn’t perform. Since the tour was wrapping up and she was scheduled to go into the studio for a new album, no new show was announced until early August. Well, lemme tell ya, it was worth the wait. This has got to be one of the tightest bands I’ve ever seen perform live. It was a challenge for the acoustics of the recently-restored historic Lucas Theater considering that AKUS is an entirely acoustic band (with electrical amplification, of course). The group played for about two hours. The only disappointment was that they did not perform one my favorite songs, “Steel Rails”. I’m not normally a fan of country music, much less bluegrass, but this is an exception worth making. Their style is really an ood fusion of traditional bluegrass, country, and pop, with a little folk thrown in. Their featured performer was Jerry Douglas on Dobro (steel bodied guitar). He did a 10 minute solo that would cause Clapton, Knopfler, and other guitar greats look up and take notice.
I love Alison Krauss and Union Station. I bought their newest album and have played it over and over until my co-workers forced me to put on something else. I’ve never seen them perform, but would like to. She has such a beautiful voice.
I saw them back at the beginning of this tour–they were great. Alison’s voice just melts me.
And you’re right–Jerry Douglas is scary good. They should really take dobros off the market now. I saw him here in Lexington with Bela Fleck and Sam Bush–far too much talent on one stage at one time.
I met Alison after a show a few years ago. She autographed my Histology notes. (Long story.)
I’ve heard it. There were also a couple of Bluegrass Sessions albums featuring them, I believe. (I gotta get rich and update my collection.)
This show featured Mark Schatz on bass, who actually stole the show in the second set with some “hambone-ing” and traditional clogging. (Far from the lame clogging that, er, clogs the fall festivals in this part of the country.) There was also a guitarist from Ricky Skaggs’ band and someone on fiddle who was not Mark O’Connor.
I caught Alison singing ‘The lucky one’ on UK TV.
I thought the whole song was just beautiful, so I found the album with it (‘New Favourite’) on the Web, registered with Amazon and got the CD delivered in 48 hours. (That’s what modern technology is about!).
But I have to say I was a little disappointed. The CD is pleasant, but, in my opinion, ‘The lucky one’ track stands way out from all the others.
Am I missing something?
I’ve seen AK&US many times at many Bluegrass festivals. both she and the band are very friendly and open to fans walking up and saying “howdy” or whatever.
A Dobro (actually a brand name) comes from the Dopyera brothers, who developed the aluminum cone resonation system to amplify guitars for National guitar company. While National went to making metal guitars (louder), the Dopyera’s left the company and started their own company making wooden guitars with the resonating pans. Thus, Dobros are wood and National Resophonic guitars are steel (though National did continue to make some low end wood models.) Incidentally, National made a steel model that they painted to look like wood grain, called the piano finish. Now, the Dobro name is owned by Gibson.
For bluegrass, Dobros are tuned to G and played with a metal bar (not unlike a slide) The nut is much taller than on a traditional guitar so the strings ride high above the neck. There is also no radius to the neck or nut so all the strings lie in the same plane. They are also pretty hard to play well (I’ve been trying for over a year.)
If y’all like Alison Kraus, you oughta check out Nickel Creek. There’s some sort of connection there - like Alison Kraus produces them or something. Regardless, it’s worth checking out. Very good CD from a very young band.
If you’re a fan of Sam Bush and Bela Fleck, check out New Grass Revival, which had a bunch of albums back in the 70s and 80s. The band evolved out of the Bluegrass Alliance, in the 70s and Fleck joined in 1981. Personally I can highly recommend 1981’s “Commonwealth” and 1984’s “Live”, both available on CD. The latter also features a killer a capella gospel song and an 18 minute version of “Sapporo”, the fascinating oriental-influenced (!) bluegrass instrumental.
As always, YMMV
Hometownboy
(who is definitely going to check out this Strength in Numbers CD - sounds awesome)
OH, yeah…I have a few of their early albums, on vinyl:
FLY THROUGH THE COUNTRY (1975)
WHEN THE STORM IS OVER (1977)
TOO LATE TO TURN BACK NOW (recorded live in Telluride, Colorado, 1977)
With the original gang: Sam Bush on mandolin and fiddle, Courtney Johnson on banjo, Curtis Burch on guitar, and John Cowan on electric bass. They were my first introduction to bluegrass of any kind.
STRENGTH IN NUMBERS is wonderful, and you should also look for some of Edgar Meyers’ trio collaborations…APPALACHIAN SPRING is the most famous, with O’Connor on fiddle and Yo Yo Ma on cello, but I think the coolest is SKIP, HOP, AND WOBBLE, with Russ Barenberg on guitar and Jerry Douglas on dobro. UNCOMMON RITUAL, with Bela Fleck on banjo and Mike Marshall on mandolin, isn’t bad, but gets much less play in my house.
Many thanks for the tip, Uke. I have both of the Yo-Yo Ma, Mark O’Conner collaborations but I appreciate the chance to explore more of this corner of music. Some bluegrass is like fingernails on blackboard to my ears, and some is sublime and full of emotion. So it’s nice to have thoughtful advice from knowledgable folks