Customer Reviews

Lonely Runs Both Ways

5 star:		(78)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

At age 33, Alison Krauss has more Grammies - 17 - than any other woman performer (even Aretha Franklin), while her previous studio CD, 2001's New Favorite, is approaching platinum sales levels. These are especially impressive feats considering how true bluegrass lingers far from mainstream country and pop, and how steadfast Krauss's dedication to bluegrass has been.


With her ace band Union Station, Krauss's forte has been a surprising but effective combination of crackling neotrad country and quiet pop. On Lonely Runs Both Ways, she again turns repeatedly to Robert Lee Castleman's intelligent writing along with a Gillian Welch/David Rawlings composition they themselves haven't recorded ("Wouldn't Be So Bad").

Woody Guthrie's "Pastures Of Plenty" gets a brooding interpretation from Union Station's deep-voiced guitarist Dan Tyminski (who sang George Clooney's numbers in O Brother, Where Art Thou?). Tyminski and hard-driving banjoist Ron Block's occasional lead vocals give the CD balance and weight, bringing it back down to earth after Krauss's cerebral singing.

Krauss, who began her recording career as a teen-aged fiddle prodigy, here gives her bowing dark, primeval tones in contrast to her light-as-a-feather vocals. Jerry Douglas plays dobro as imaginatively as ever as Krauss and Union Station transport serious bluegrass into the present without removing it from its past.

Greetings, bluegrass fans. I'm not among you. This is my 84th review for Ammy, and the first of a bluegrass, folk or country album. I review albums of singers, and generally, that's jazz singers. In fact, of the prior 83, 80 are of jazz singers, while three are of pop singers (Joni Mitchell, Rickie Lee Jones and Kate Bush).

My attention to this album was drawn by "Down Beat", the Bible of jazz. They gave a good rating to this, and one critic there gave it 5 stars. "Down Beat" rarely gives 5 stars to singers, so I knew I had to check it out.

I'm glad I did. Alison Krauss has a beautiful, pure voice. Her voice reminds me of Sinead O'Connor (pop) or Luciana Souza or Tierney Sutton (jazz)--one of those strong voices that doesn't strain, crack or pop no matter where she is in either of her second soprano ranges. The Union Station gives her solid backup support throughout.

Through the first 14 cuts, I was on the fence as to whether to give this 4 or 5 stars, which was tempered by the fact that my knowledge of bluegrass isn't anywhere near as complete as it is of jazz. Then I got to the last cut, "A Living Prayer", done by Ms. Krauss alone on guitar. Wow! This is one of the most spiritual songs done in recent years in any genre. It is a "pull your car over to the side of the road and listen to this now!" type of song. To say the least, it is worth the price of the album, and makes it one highly recommended. RC

Many years ago after a band gig an audience member gave me a cassette and told me to "check this gal out, you'll like her". Turned out to be a copy of her first album and I've been a big fan ever since.
This is a good CD. Lots of breathy beautiful vocals, and a great treatment of Del McCoury's "Rain Go Away". Their version is a virtual textbook of how to play a hard core bluegrass number.
Another cool thing is the way Alison does the backbeat chops usually done by the mandolin, on the fiddle. Sounds perfect.
My main criteria in evaluating a song is if it makes me smile. I did a lot of smiling while I listened to this album.
Terence Kennedy
Alexandria Minnesota

This new cd by Alison and her band is uncommonly good. Here, the lady who brought bluegrass from outdoor festivals and small venues to big theaters and arenas, again, shines like the star she is. When the history of acoustic music is written let it be said that Alison bridged the gap to the 21st Century with music whose tones and styles go back to the Carter Family and earlier. Jerry Douglas highlights the instrumentation with the dobro, writing Unionhouse Branch, filling, introducing selected tunes. Dan, Ron, Barry, Larry do heavy lifting on their voices and instruments. New harmonies emerge, new voice bends, new rhythms come across. My favorite, Crazy As Me. Ron's new song, A Living Prayer is worth the price of the cd; Gravity, Restless--have twists and turns coming from writer Castleman. Even the pictures are delightful.

Alison Krauss and Union Station have done it again!. This new release is definitely worth the wait!. The opener Gravity is just stunning, followed by Restless which is beautiful Alison and Dan's harmonies are breath taking. We also get to hear Dan's vocals on Rain Please Go Away and Pastures of Plenty. Borderline is one of my favorite tracks, and the banjo tinged My Poor Old Heart accented by Jerry Douglas's dobro!. I also like Goodbye is All We Have and Wouldn't Be So Bad. All the songs are winners here! A Living Prayer is just haunting! Alison's pristeen voice with just two guitars music just doesn't get any better. My admiration to Ron for writing such a great song! You won't be disappointed pick this one up! definitely a contender for the grammies and CMAs!.

A very good album because everything Alison and Union Station does is very good. The but ... is because it's a star's album: nothing really new, nothing adventurous, nothing daring at all.

Sad, because that's how Alison in particular became a star. Her breakthrough album, a decade ago, featured Lennon and McCartney mixed with gospel, bluegrass, and old rock stuff plus two classics: "Now that I found You,'' an old R&B tune and "When you say Nothing at all.''

This album is formulaic. Four Robert Lee Castlemans, a Welch/Rawlings; some bluegrass stuff by Dan and the obligatory Ron Block religious closing. All well done, some of it interesting, but nothing really new _ the farthest out number is Woody Guthrie's "Pastures of Plenty.'' I grew up with it, so I'm a little tired of it, but I liked the way it was done.

Two thoughts on what this might have been.

1. Shortly after I watched the concert DVD with Alison's explanation (very funny - she could be a standup comic) of her yearning for sad "lost love'' songs, I heard The Band's "It Makes No Difference.'' It's long been one of my favorites and my first thought was that it would make a perfect Alison Kraus number. Lost love from one of the great groups of all time _ as much country, by the way, as they were rock.

2. Recently, my Tivo brought me a Shania Twain concert with AKUS as the backing band. It was wonderful. Not for Twain, who doesn't have half of Alison's talent. But for what AKUS sounded like _ Jerry's dobro like an electric guitar; Ron's acoustic guitar like Keith Richards; Larry's drums like ... well, you get the idea. Alison's vocal and fiddle fills were wonderful, far better than Twain's leads. And the last snippet was a classicly funny one-liner she just threw out there.

Wouldn't it have been nice to have broken formula with that kind of instrumental _ not electric, just new? A couple of things on the live album/DVD _ Ron's "Faraway Land'' comes to mind _ are pretty far out instrumentally, certainly in no country/bluegrass mode that I know. Something like that on this album would have made it a little more spontaneous.

I guess what I hoped for was a reach out. To The Band; even to the Grateful Dead's "Workingman's Dead'' or "American Beauty" albums, both mostly acoustic. I'd love to hear AKUS do "Ripple'' or "Brokedown Palace.'' It might be tough, especially "Ripple,'' although Jimmy Dale Gilmour did a pretty interesting version.

Maybe it was too much to hope for. This is good stuff. It's just stuff produced by stars who now seem very much in the mainstream. Yes, what they've done in the past has brought the mainstream closer to them _ they've changed American country music a bit. But being stars, they would seem to have the cachet to do what they want _ as I write this, the album has been out one day and is No. 4 on Amazon's sales list. Maybe innovation would make it No. 1.

This album delivers everything you expect from AKUS. Excelent musicianship, sparkling vocals, sweet harmonies, and faithfullness to the music. I still get chills every time I hear Alison on lead vocals and Dan singing harmony.
My only disappointment is that this album doesn't cover any new ground. I found myself thinking that almost every song on this album reminded me of one that was on a previous album. It would be nice to see AKUS try something really new and unique.
That being said, fans will be thrilled with this new release, but it won't bring any new fans into the fold.

I first heard Alison Krauss on Down to the River to Pray about 7 months ago. Her voice and the harmonies with Union Station were so beautiful, I've become hooked. As a woman in my fifties I don't buy alot of CD's or find much that really is worth spending my money on but I can't get enough of AKUS. Each CD is different and when I commute to work I can't decide which to listen to. I've purchased nearly all of their CD's and the more that I listen the more that I like. I've become a "groupie!" Thank you AKUS for sharing your talents. By the way, I have never reviewed anything on the internet.

Allison Kraus has a heavenly sweet voice. This is nice low-key bluegrass music that even a bluegrass novice would enjoy.

This is truly one of the best in 2004. Alison's voice is angelic,her band members are talented.If you like to sit down and listen to something on a lazy weekend,the CD will not disappoint.