Lonely Runs Both Ways

by

Alison Krauss & Union Station

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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.