An anonymous friend recently referred to Alison Krauss as the “prom queen of bluegrass,” and as snarky as that sounds, she oughta take it as a compliment. Already a favorite among fans of credible new-country and sprightly contemporary folk, her profile was raised a few extra notches last year by the unexpected success of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack and the old-tyme-music feeding frenzy that followed. Besides her lack of facial hair, a major difference between Krauss and other bandwagon beneficiaries is that her skill as a musician is both immediately apparent and way beyond novelty. She’s been a first-rate fiddler since puberty, and her versatile voice can muster high-lonesome laments the same as rollicking down-home pop. She’s gifted, popular, and easy on the eyes—which might make some of the cool kids jealous, but that’s their problem, isn’t it. If she’s as smart as we think she is, Krauss will acknowledge our appetite for the uppity old-school folk she and her Union Station cohorts do best, though they’ll undoubtedly dig into a few of the deeper, more modernist tracks from last fall’s New Favorite, too.
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