A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection

by

Alison Krauss

Edit

Not exactly a best of rather more a gathering of tracks that might be less familiar with the work she's done outside of bluegrass and her albums with Union Station.

It's an interestingly eclectic compilation that embraces both her film soundtrack contributions and collaborations.

Both in the case of the traditional folk tune "You Will Be My Ain True Love" which was an Oscar nominated duet with Sting from "Cold Mountain". Other film music is represented here with "The Scarlet Tide", again Oscar nominated from "Cold Mountain", "I Give You To His Heart" from the animation "The Prince of Egypt" and, perhaps best known, the unaccompanied own "To The River To Pray" from "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

Not strictly a soundtrack recording, the bluegrass fiddling "Sawing On The Strings" stems from the 2004 CMT Flame Worthy Awards show while "Baby Mine" is trawled from a Disney tribute album.

It's another tribute collection, this time to the Louvins, that provides "How's The World Treating You", a haunting old school country duet with James Taylor.

Elsewhere on the collaborations front there's mainstream country suicide ditty "Whisky Lullaby" from Brad Paisley's "Mud On The Tires" while "Get me Through December" and "Molly Ban" respectively hail from albums by Natalie MacMaster and The Chieftains.

Perhaps the most surprising pairing though is with rocker John Waite whom she shares duties with on his biggest hit, "Missing You".

A second duet with Waite, the moody yearning country ballad "Lay Down Beside Me", is one of five previously unreleased recordings (all produced by Krauss) that make this all the more essential for Krauss completists. The remaining four new cuts all come at the start of the album, running down from mountain air piano ballad "You're Just A Country Boy" through the rippling Appalachian tinkles of "Simple Love" and the bluesy folk "Jacob's Dream" to slow swaying, banjo flecked lullaby "Away Down The Rive"r that shows off Krauss's pure crystal stream vocals to excellent effect.

A new album should be along later this year or early next, but for now this will tide fans over quite nicely.