The first time I recall becoming aware of Alison Krauss was when I watched her win all four CMA awards that she had been nominated for in 1995. Female Vocalist of the Year, Single of the Year for her sublime cover of Keith Whitley’s “When You Say Nothing at All”, Horizon Award, and Vocal Event of the Year for her “Somewhere in the Vicinity of the Heart” duet with Shenandoah.
The thing that stands out the most in this 30-year-old memory is every time the list of names was read, the little envelope opened, and Krauss’ name was called out, when she got to the stage to accept her trophy she seemed – a little embarrassed. Don’t misunderstand, she was gracious and thanked all the appropriate people, but the impression I got as I watched her exit the stage, all four times, was that she would rather be anywhere and be doing anything else than at that ceremony where the Lord’s of Country Music were showing her how talented they believed her to be.
Later that year, she also won a Grammy for the album she made with the Cox Family, “I Know Who Holds Tomorrow”. And in the years that have followed, she has accumulated 26 more Grammy’s, which for a time, made her the record holder for the female artist with the most wins. As the record stands now it’s Beyonce (35), Alison (27), and Aretha (18). When she became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1993, she was the youngest ever to have been inducted and the first Bluegrass artist in 29 years.
Over the years she has collaborated with everyone from Ralph Stanley to Def Leppard, Dolly Parton to Ringo Starr. “Raising Sand”, her 2007 album with Robert Plant, won all five awards it was nominated for at the 2009 Grammy’s, went platinum, and resulted in sold out concert venues on their world tour. In 2021, Plant and Krauss did it all over again with their second album, “Raise the Roof”.
And we haven’t even mentioned Union Station, the band Alison joined as a teenager when they released their debut album “Two Highways” in 1989.
This is all to say that the amount of “extraordinary” that exists in this one soul is simply remarkable. It would probably be enough to rhapsodize over her skills as a musician (she was winning fiddle championships at 13), or her preposterously perfect voice, or her ability as a producer and collector of songs and songwriters of the highest quality. But by all accounts, she is also a truly kind, gracious, and humble human being who seems a bit awkward around her obvious and abundant gifts. It’s almost as though she is just as amazed by them as we are.
I’ve seen Alison Krauss and Union Station (AKUS is what you’ll see on all the swag) in concert several times. In person they are delightful. They tell funny stories, tease each other, and talk about the songs they perform in a way that sometimes borders on reverence. And the amusing stories that Alison relates in particular often have a self-deprecating quality that some might interpret as her way of saying, “Please don’t hate me for being so incredible…none of this is my fault”.
I mean…as if.
After watching the ’95 CMA’s, I trotted myself down to the old Tower Records (how much do we miss Tower Records?) across the street from the Sports Arena in San Diego and bought myself the cassette (the cassette!) of Krauss’ solo album “Now That I’ve Found You” and became an instant and eternally rabid fan. However, because those were pre-Google days, it wasn’t until a couple years later that I realized Alison had a band called Union Station. And when their album “So Long, So Wrong” was released in 1997, my heart became forever and always anchored to THAT 14-song masterpiece as the single most influential and defining collection of music of my life. So far.
There have been dalliances over the years, with artists old and new. Several years ago I “discovered” Mark Knopfler and fell pretty hard. My latest fling has been with Charley Crockett. But no one has ever come close to breaching the “Greatest of All Time” perimeter that Alison, Dan, Ron, Barry, and Jerry established all those years ago in the deep dark midnight of my musical soul.
After a 14-year gap, Alison and the guys (with Russell Moore from IIIrd Tyme Out filling in for Dan Tyminski this time around) released “Arcadia” this past Friday, March 28th. I waited until 10:01 PM on Thursday March 27th (12:01 AM Eastern time) to log in to my Spotify account to download it.
It’s amazing. However, instead of me bumbling through a clunky, overly gushy review, you can read the New York times article below and enjoy a real journalist’s take on the new AKUS endeavor.
I’ll save my clunky, overly gushy thoughts about this new album and earlier albums for another time. In the meantime, do you have a GOAT? I’d love to hear about it.