As a teenager and young adult, my musical tastes were pretty well defined: Motown and R&B, straight-ahead rock and a heavy dose of the San Francisco bands that came out of the Sixties: Santana, Jefferson Airplane, The Steve Miller Band, etc.
So how did a bluegrass/country superstar named Alison Krauss become my favorite performer? Chalk it up to the frequent traveling I did as a recruiter for The Oregonian. One trip took me to Nashville. I decided to open myself to the possibilities of another genre there in the home of country music. One listen to her voice and I was hooked. The fact that she plays a fierce fiddle and that her band, Union Station, is as talented a group of musicians as I've ever heard only cements my respect.
At this point, I've seen her in concert three times (once in Saratoga, Calif., twice in Portland) and I'm looking forward to No. 4 -- an outdoor gig June 29 at Edgefield Manor.No doubt she'll play a lot of tracks from her newest CD, "Paper Airplane," which, after just a couple of listens, sounds to me as though it's just as good as the other six CDs by AKUS that I own. Then there's No. 7, "Raising Sand," the Grammy-winning album she made when she paired up with Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant.
She's an amazing performer and it's hard to select a single video representative of her work, so I'll cheat (again) and post two.
"Simple Love" and "Baby, Now That I've Found You" are staples in her live playlist.
Embedding has been disabled for "There Is A Reason," the song she typically sings to close the evening. But here is a link to a lovely song.
And, finally, if you want a taste of bluegrass, check out "Cluck Old Hen," featuring an 11-year-old mandolin player that AKUS brought on stage with them.
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