Russell Moore Archives - The Bluegrass Situation

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Bringing ‘Arcadia’ to Life, Alison Krauss Saw Its Songs Like Movies in Her Head

From her early days as a young fiddler picking up prizes at youth fiddle competitions, accomplishment has defined Alison Krauss’ career. She’s cleaned up on trophies from the Recording Academy, the International Bluegrass Music Association, and numerous other acronymned institutions, and earned the highest civilian honor in her birth state of Illinois last year. She continues to rack up the achievements at an easy clip: Arcadia, her newest album with Union Station and their first together in 14 years, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s bluegrass chart.

Amid a return to themes of yearning love and rich storytelling, Arcadia marks a new chapter for Union Station with a changing of the guard. Dan Tyminski, the group’s longtime vocalist and himself a heavily decorated picker, revealed his departure from the band late last year. The ensemble – with Jerry Douglas, Barry Bales, and Ron Block still in the fold – enlisted bluegrass veteran Russell Moore to step in with them to sing, along with fiddler Stuart Duncan joining them on the road. Krauss recalls first encountering Moore and his singular voice at a Kentucky Fried Chicken bluegrass festival as a 14-year-old, and she’s been a devoted fan ever since. As a part of Union Station, Krauss sees Moore as an enlivening addition, and her admiration for her colleague hasn’t waned. “He’s like a nightingale!” she exclaims.

The time between Union Station records has manifested both another solo album, 2017’s Windy City, and the more recent Robert Plant reunion, 2021’s Raise the Roof. In the years prior, Krauss had to recuse herself from singing due to a bout with dysphonia, which had stricken her hero, Tony Rice, too. Her fight, in turn, inspired Rice to rally his voice in her honor when he was inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2013 (Krauss was inducted herself in 2021).

As she stares down a strident tour schedule that extends through the end of the summer, Krauss remains careful to protect the instrument that has connected her to millions of people over her decades in the bluegrass business. Pausing amid Union Station rehearsals ahead of their run together, Krauss unravels some of her thinking around Arcadia, and how songs transport her through time and memory.

What made you feel like the time was right for another Union Station record?

Alison Krauss: It’s always a process to get the right songs together. I’ve been looking for songs since we made Paper Airplane. I’m sure if COVID wouldn’t have happened, we probably would have been in there sooner. I sent out a group message in the beginning of 2021, like, “I think we’ve got some good songs here, we want to get together and listen.” Whenever we record, we find the first song that sounds like the opening to the record and have one that feels like that for a while. Then you find another one that might feel that way. When I heard “Looks Like the End of the Road,” it really felt like, for a listener, an introduction to new music.

You’ve talked about the record snapping into place around “Looks Like the End of the Road” elsewhere, too. What about it made you feel that way?

When you hear them, you just see [them], it’s like a movie. They just come alive. You see the story, and it’s spontaneous thought. You know you can’t control it and you’re a passenger to the story, and that’s what happens with things. It happened with that tune, “Looks like the End of the Road,” the first half, the first verse, when I heard it, I was like, “Oh boy, here we go.”

I think I wrote [the band] the next day. But then everything, all the stuff I’ve been holding on to, just fell into place. It was great. Luckily, when we played everything for the guys, they felt good about it. If they were in disagreement, it wouldn’t have worked.

On Arcadia, you’ve got “The Hangman” about resisting evil, “Granite Mills” about workers dying in a factory fire, and the lament for a young soldier in “Richmond on the James.” To what extent did these songs come from a sense of historical resonance with our present day?

It’s strange, you find you gravitate to certain things, and then you go, “Well, here’s the pattern.” It’s not beforehand, at least for myself. The songs find you and then you kind of find a pattern within them, how they fit together.

I’m not a songwriter. A songwriter, they’re writing how they feel, and if you gather tunes from when they’re writing during a certain time in their life, there’s going to be similarity in there. After we’re collecting these things, you do find a thread.

As a listener, what makes a song stick in your memory?

Anything that makes you daydream. You automatically go there. It’s so personal, those thoughts that you have regarding music, regarding any art. It makes one person feel some certain way, another will feel another. The things that come into your mind that are only for you. I love that private, personal experience you have with these things. I always think about what makes a person who they are, what they daydream about. Songs are more powerful than political people, when you look at it—they start movements, they change the way people see themselves.

It’s been like that throughout history. It has a way of changing the atmosphere, how you feel in three minutes, and the way your day goes. The whole thing is important to people and how they get around. You may need joy. You may need to have someone sing your story for you. You may not have known that this was your story.

It’s a magical thing, music in general, and to be a part of it is a really powerful experience. I find it – I don’t know what other word to use, other than magical. It’s costly to your emotions. Done well, you’ll feel it. That’s what we’re here to do.

Why does daydreaming hold such importance for you, when we’re so often discouraged from it as adults?

It has possibilities in every area of how you see yourself, how you see others, how you see the world. You may have an understanding of another person you didn’t have, because some musical moment took you some place you didn’t think it would. You have things you’re familiar with that will take you to the same place.

I’m careful with certain records because, when I hear them again, I don’t want them to change where they took me as a kid. I’ll go, “I’m gonna listen to this today, and I’m gonna put it away again, because I want to keep that place that it takes me for myself.” I don’t understand why it works that way, but it does. I always feel like you’ve got to be really careful with the words that come out of your mouth when you’re singing, because they’re powerful. You know you have to be in agreement, in your mind and in your heart, about what words are coming out of your mouth, because you are in agreement with them.

I’ve felt that way about records, where it’s like I don’t want to “tape over” whatever memories or feelings I already have associated with them.

It’s the same with me: “I’d love to hear that, but I’m gonna wait.” I don’t want to mix my life up with what that [music] did back then. I go watch YouTube, which is the greatest invention. Just the other day, I watched Nashville Bluegrass Band from 1985 or something. You watch that stuff, and it’s just so emotional. It’s costly when you remember hearing something for the first time, and you go back. It’s so bittersweet, so inspiring, and sad, because you can’t go back. The only thing that lets you go back is hearing these tunes again.

Looking back on your experience with dysphonia, and the time you took away from recording and public performance, what do you see about that period now that you couldn’t see while you were going through it?

Years ago, the only time you thought about your voice, really, is if you got the flu or something. I had never had that happen, where the throat would tighten up. It was disturbing. I went to the same voice teacher I see now, who helped me through that. He said, “You’ve got to clean off your desk,” which was really funny, because anytime I’d go to the studio, I used to literally clean the desk off. He’s like, “No, you’ve got too many other things on your mind. It has to be free.”

When there’s grief or too much stress, your throat tightens up, like if you want to cry or you’re angry, and it stays like that. How can you move through it? I try to stay on it, try to find other ways to make sure I don’t get bogged down. But you can’t always control it.

My voice teacher says some really funny stuff at times that I probably can’t repeat. I go see him pretty regularly to get ready. When you count on [your voice] and it goes away one time, you don’t feel so secure anymore. It’s maintenance. I went back to him one time, like, “I’m worried, why is this happening again?” And he goes, “Well, you don’t sweep the floor one time and it’s done forever. You gotta keep sweeping the floor.” That helped.

I’ve got to keep sweeping the floor.

Continue exploring our Artist of the Month content featuring Alison Krauss & Union Station here.

Photo Credit: Randee St. Nicholas

An AKUS Primer: Alison Krauss and (Mostly) Union Station for Beginners

While you know better, there’s a wide swath of the music-listening world in which Alison Krauss is best known as former Led Zeppelin golden god Robert Plant’s duet partner. Yet, Krauss has had a wholly remarkable career going back nearly 40 years, in which she has exhibited profound collaborative instincts and abilities.

On the occasion of the release of Arcadia, her first album with Union Station in 14 years (as well as a reunion with the founders of her former longtime label, Rounder Records), we look back at some of Krauss’ career highlights in and out of Union Station.

“Cluck Old Hen” (traditional; 1992-2007)

We begin with a literal oldie, “Cluck Old Hen,” from the pre-bluegrass era, which demonstrates two things – that Alison Krauss has always revered the history, roots, and traditions of bluegrass; and that Union Station is one incredible ensemble. Recordings of this Appalachian fiddle tune go back more than a century, to country music forefather Fiddlin’ John Carson in the 1920s.

Krauss first released an instrumental version of the tune on 1992’s Everytime You Say Goodbye (her second LP with Union Station), and won a GRAMMY with the onstage version on 2002’s AKUS album, Live. But feast your ears and eyes on this 2007 performance at the Grand Ole Opry, with a pre-teen Sierra Hull sitting in.

1992 studio version:

2002 live version:

“When You Say Nothing At All” (Paul Overstreet & Don Schlitz; 1994)

After a decade of steadily accelerating momentum, Krauss had her big commercial breakout with this AKUS cover of the late Keith Whitley’s 1988 country chart-topper. Krauss sang it on 1994’s Keith Whitley: A Tribute Album and it served as centerpiece of her own 1995 album, Now That I’ve Found You: A Collection. It reached No. 3 on the country singles chart and went on to win the Country Music Association’s single of the year plus a GRAMMY Award. You can hear why.

Whitley’s version:

“I Can Let Go Now” (Michael McDonald; 1997)

For any interpretive singer, the choice of material is key. And if the singer in question has Krauss’ range and chops and vision, some truly unlikely alchemy is possible. Among the best examples from the AKUS repertoire is “I Can Let Go Now,” a deep cut on Doobie Brothers frontman Michael McDonald’s 1982 solo album, If That’s What It Takes. Another amazing Krauss vocal in a career full of them.

McDonald’s version:

“Man of Constant Sorrow” (traditional; 2000-2002)

Before O Brother, Where Art Thou?, you wouldn’t have called singer-guitarist Dan Tyminski the unheralded “secret weapon” of AKUS. Nevertheless, he didn’t become a star in his own right until serving as movie star George Clooney’s singing voice in the Coen Brothers loopy, Odyssey-inspired farce. “Man of Constant Sorrow” was the hit in the movie and also on the radio, launching Tyminski to solo stardom.

Resonator guitarist Jerry Douglas especially shines on this version from 2002’s Live, recorded in Louisville – you can just tell everyone in the crowd was waiting for the “I bid farewell to old Kentucky” line so they could go nuts. Tyminski would have another unlikely hit in 2013, singing on Swedish deejay Avicii’s “Hey Brother.”

O Brother version:

“New Favorite” (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings; 2001)

Kraus sang on the GRAMMY-winning O Brother soundtrack, too, alongside Gillian Welch. It will come as no surprise that the Welch/Rawlings catalog has been a recurrent favorite song source for her. One of Krauss’ best Welch/Rawlings selections is “New Favorite,” title track of the thrice-GRAMMY-winning 2001 AKUS album. Though it’s edited out in this video, the album-closing version concluded with a rare in-the-studio instrumental flub, followed by sheepish laughter to end the record. Perhaps the AKUS crew is human after all?

“Borderline” (Sidney & Suzanne Cox; 2004)

The story goes that the first time Krauss was on the summer touring circuit, she’d go around knocking on camper doors at bluegrass festivals to ask whoever answered, “Are you the Cox Family?” Once she found them, she didn’t let go, and the Coxes became some of the best of her collaborators and song providers. Along with producing their albums, Krauss covered Cox compositions frequently; “Borderline” appeared on 2004’s Lonely Runs Both Ways, another triple GRAMMY winner.

“Big Log” (Robert Plant, Robbie Blunt, Jezz Woodroffe; 2004)

When Krauss first sang with Robert Plant at a Leadbelly tribute concert in November 2004, it seemed like the unlikeliest of pairings. But here’s proof that they had more in common than you’d expect, with Krauss covering a solo Plant hit from 1983. She sang “Big Log” on her brother Victor Krauss’ album, Far From Enough, which was released earlier in 2004.

This video pairs the Krauss siblings’ version with Plant’s original 1983 video, directed by Storm Thorgerson.

“Dimming of the Day” (Richard & Linda Thompson; 2011)

Fairport Convention guitarist Richard Thompson is one of the finest instrumentalists of his generation as well as a brilliant songwriter, especially with his former wife and collaborator Linda Thompson. This stately, bittersweet love song dates back to their 1975 duo LP, Pour Down Like Silver, and Linda sets the bar high with a stoic yet emotional vocal. Krauss more than lives up to it on the 2011 AKUS album Paper Airplane, which also offers another great showcase for resonator guitarist Douglas.

Richard & Linda’s version:

“Your Long Journey” (Doc & Rosa Lee Watson; 2007)

Krauss isn’t just a spectacular lead vocalist, but also an amazing harmony singer, one of the few who can hold a candle to Emmylou Harris. Retitled from the Doc/Rosa Lee Watson original, “Your Lone Journey,” this closing track to 2007’s grand-slam GRAMMY winner Raising Sand has Krauss’ most emotional vocal harmonies with Plant on either of their two albums together.

Doc Watson’s version:

“Heaven’s Bright Shore” (A. Kennedy; 1989, 2015)

All that, and she’s an incredible backup vocalist to boot. “Heaven’s Bright Shore” is a gospel song Krauss first recorded as a teenager on 1989’s Two Highways, her first album billed as Alison Krauss & Union Station (and also her first to receive a GRAMMY nomination). It’s great, but an even better version is this 2015 recording in which she’s backing up bluegrass patriarch Ralph Stanley alongside Judy Marshall.

AKUS version:

“The Captain’s Daughter” (Johnny Cash & Robert Lee Castleman; 2018)

The late great Johnny Cash left behind a lot of writings after he died in 2003, some of which were turned into songs for the 2018 tribute album, Forever Words: The Music. None of his songs ever had it so good as “The Captain’s Daughter.” This superlative AKUS version fits Cash’s words like a glove.

Continue exploring our Artist of the Month coverage of Alison Krauss & Union Station here.

Alison Krauss & Union Station figure prominently in David Menconi’s book, Oh, Didn’t They Ramble: Rounder Records and the Transformation of American Roots Music, published in 2023 by University of North Carolina Press and featuring a foreword by Robert Plant.

Photo Credit: Randee St. Nicholas

Artist of the Month: Alison Krauss & Union Station

After 14 years, one of the biggest and most well-known bluegrass bands in the history of the music, Alison Krauss & Union Station, have returned with a brand new studio album, Arcadia. Released on March 28 to the delight of bluegrass and AKUS fans the world over, the collection doesn’t merely pick up where the group left off with 2011’s Paper Airplane. Instead, Arcadia soars back through the band’s deep and mighty discography landing somewhere, sonically, between So Long, So Wrong (1997) and Lonely Runs Both Ways (2004) – in other words, this iconic bluegrass band made a bluegrass album.

Alison Krauss & Union Station, by many measures, are one of the most prominent bluegrass bands to ever emerge from the genre. With the smashing success of her late ’90s to 2010s projects with Union Station and the incredible momentum behind their particular blend of bluegrass, “mash,” easy listening, country, and adult contemporary, Krauss catapulted to roots music notoriety, becoming a household name. She’d lend her voice to the blockbuster Coen Brothers film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, tour with Willie Nelson and Family, make two smash hit records with rock and roll legend Robert Plant, back up Shania Twain, duet with artists like Dolly Parton, Andrea Bocelli, Kris Kristofferson, Cyndi Lauper, Ringo Starr, and countless others. Was bluegrass, which Krauss had called her musical home since she was a pre-teen fiddle contest phenom, merely a springboard into fame and notoriety?

Of course not. This is the idiom in which Krauss has made most of her art; this is a second language – or perhaps, a first – and the fluency and virtuosity Krauss and her band have displayed are two of the most important bluegrass exports that registered and resonated with the masses who would become her fans. Krauss’s crystalline and powerful voice, sensitive and deliberate deliveries, endless grit, and one-of-a-kind skill for song curation only bolstered the electric, engaging charm of the bluegrass bones endemic in her artistry. It’s no wonder that this iteration of bluegrass ended up becoming arguably the most mainstream and most recognizable in the U.S., if not the world.

So, Krauss spread her wings and flew, carrying those bluegrass sensibilities – however overt or subtle – into everything she made. Whether the clean and country Windy City or the soulful and rockin’ pair of Raising Sand and Raise The Roof with Robert Plant, or the easy and romantic Forget About It, she had new horizons to run towards. But she always brought bluegrass with her. To arena tours, giant amphitheaters, sheds, pavilions, the biggest festivals, and beyond. By the time Paper Airplane took off, many in bluegrass regarded AKUS as bluegrass’s zenith, its peak, its maximum. Would anyone ever go further, achieve more, or play to larger audiences? This, after all, is the woman and band who up until they were bested by Beyoncé herself boasted more GRAMMY wins than any other artist in the organization’s history. Who could ever top them?

Well, it turns out Alison Krauss & Union Station weren’t just blazing a trail only they could trod down. Arcadia, fourteen years on from their most recent studio release, enters a universe – a resplendent ecosystem, a vibrant economy – that wouldn’t have existed if not for this band creating the factors that would allow it to exist. Folks like Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Sierra Ferrell, Tyler Childers, Zach Top, and many more have raised the roof on what’s possible for bluegrass and bluegrass-adjacent artists, what heights they can achieve, and what genre and style infusions are acceptable and marketable.

But AKUS and Arcadia, especially by returning to many of the musical markers from their ’90s and ’00s offerings, reenter the world that they created not as legacy artists or sceptered elders. They seem to be quite happy to consider themselves among these fresh giants in or around or from bluegrass as peers, contemporaries. Legends in their own rights, yes, and with a mythical gravitational pull to all of these acts and musicians they have inspired across generations, but Arcadia doesn’t feel stoic or mothballed, or almighty and shrouded by clouds high atop a sacred mountain. There’s mash that sounds direct from the halls of SPBGMA at the Music City Sheraton, there’s tender, longing romance, there’s rip roarin’ fiddle, there are transatlantic touches, there’s a dash of dystopia, and plenty of that iconoclastic melancholy for which Krauss has become known. There’s also a new voice in the mix, IIIrd Tyme Out’s frontman Russell Moore, who sings lead on four of the album’s ten tracks, filling the “big shoes” of former member Dan Tyminski.

In short, Alison Krauss & Union Station may be roots music royalty, but their status has in no way dulled their dynamism. They could rest on their laurels, but Krauss and her cohort are clearly still staring down fresh, new horizons. Could there be a new wind in their sails, as they embark alongside this new class of arena-ready, large scale bluegrassers? Has a tacit permission been given to return to their essential roots? Or maybe it’s just a matter of time. When bluegrass is in you, in the soil from which you grew, it has a tendency to ooze out all along or all at once. That trail of ‘grassy touches is what got Alison Krauss & Union Station here in the first place, and it’s what will bring them through the next fourteen years, too. Whatever sounds, songs, and stories occur between.

Alison Krauss & Union Station are our April 2025 Artist of the Month. Our 3+ hour Essentials Playlist below covers their entire discography, as well as Krauss’ own releases and other collaborations. Stay tuned for exclusive content coming later this month – like our interview with Alison about the album, powering through dysphonia, how she collects songs, and more. Plus, we have a collection of Six of the Best Alison Krauss Covers and our discography deep dive for beginners and longtime fans alike. Don’t forget about our exclusive Toy Heart podcast interview with Alison hosted by Tom Power or our recent interview with Russell Moore himself about how excited he is for this brand new gig. We’ll be diving back into the BGS Archives for all things AKUS, so follow along on social media as, for a month at least, we’ll be a proud Alison Krauss & Union Situation.

Photo Credit: Randee St. Nicholas

“Not Easy Shoes to Fill” – Russell Moore Gets the Gig of a Lifetime: Alison Krauss & Union Station

Russell Moore has been a professional musician and bandleader for 40 years and, though he wouldn’t describe himself as complacent, he does readily admit he generally knows what he can expect from that job.

“It’s almost like, ‘Okay, I know what this week is going to bring and what next week is going to bring,’” he shares over the phone. “It’s the same thing, even though you try to explore different opportunities … I never would have thought that at this point in my career that this opportunity would arise.”

Back in early December 2024, Alison Krauss & Union Station announced their first headline tour in nearly ten years and, with that announcement, that Moore himself would be joining the band. The bluegrass community responded with an outpouring of love for Moore, his talent, and his iconic, long-running bluegrass band IIIrd Tyme Out while marveling at how perfectly he and his voice would fit into one of the most prominent, best-loved, and best-selling string bands in music history.

Once fears of IIIrd Tyme Out being benched were totally allayed – the band has lasted 34 years so far and has no plans to curtail their efforts with Moore’s new gig – the ‘grass community set their sights on the next announcement from AKUS, which came in January: Arcadia, their first album since 2011’s Paper Airplane, will release March 28.

Arcadia will be the starting pistol for a breakneck six-month tour that will find Alison Krauss & Union Station (and their newest member, Moore) criss-crossing the continent to perform at some of the most notable venues and festivals in the scene. Many of which Moore will find himself checking off his bucket list for the very first time.

To mark the occasion, and as we anxiously count down the weeks to Arcadia and the Arcadia Tour, we sat down with Russell Moore to chat about his career, his plans for IIIrd Tyme Out, and how energized and excited he is by this once-in-a-lifetime chance. As he puts it, he has very big shoes to fill – but perhaps he is the only one concerned about having the chops to fill them.

You’ve been leading your own band for so long and you’ve been the person to “make the call” – hiring a sideman, or hiring someone to fill in, or finding a new band member. So how does it feel at this stage in your career to get this kind of call to join a band like Allison Krauss & Union Station? How does it feel to be on the receiving end for a change?

Russell Moore: What a blessing. It’s definitely the other side of the fence! For 34 years I’ve been running IIIrd Tyme Out and making the decisions or helping make the decisions. That’s a job in itself. You wear many different hats when you’re doing that.

The last time that I was in a situation like I’m going into with AKUS was back when I was with Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. That was basically, “I’m the guy that plays guitar and I sing” and everything else was pretty much taken care of. Since then, up ‘til now with IIIrd Tyme Out, I’ve been heavily involved with all the decisions and making things happen, which like I said, it requires several different hats to wear day-in and day-out.

This is going back to that time, before IIIrd Tyme Out. And I’m excited about it. It really gives me the opportunity to focus totally on the music and my part in the band, rather than anything else that goes along with running a band. That’s exciting in itself. I will say, it’s going to take some getting used to, because I know that I’m going to be saying, “Oh, what can I do today to help this thing out?” That’s going to be a change of pace for me!

But I’m looking forward to it. Honestly, I’m looking forward to not having to worry about anything else other than my position in AKUS and just doing my job to the best of my ability and that’s it. That’s gonna be pretty cool. I guess you would say a little weight off of my shoulders.

You can set down the CEO hat and pick up the “being an instrumentalist and a vocalist and a technician” hat. Of course it’s got to feel exciting in some ways to get to step back into that role of being an equal part collaborator in a band instead of having to wear so many hats and having to be a lightning rod for everything.

RM: It is. It definitely is. I did experience just a little bit of this a few years ago. Jerry Douglas called and asked if I could go out for a few days with the Earls of Leicester, which I did and it was the same thing. I played mandolin and I sang my harmony parts with Shawn [Camp]. And I didn’t have to do anything else. That was all I had to do. For a few days there, I got to relieve myself of all the responsibilities of running a touring band on the road, and it was cool. I enjoyed it. I really did.

I’m not going to lie, I’m not saying that I don’t enjoy running a band, I’m not saying that whatsoever! But it was nice to step back for a few days and just be that. So I see this, for the six months between April and September, being sort of in the same picture. I wanna focus everything I can, all the time I’ve got, on playing the music, being in the position that I’m in, and doing the best I can. Just focusing on that. That’s going to be cool. I’m not going to have to worry about, “Did the bus get there on time? Is there something wrong with the bus?”

I know I’m not the only one who was super excited to hear this news and also thought immediately, “I never would have connected these dots myself, but who else has a better voice for that gig?” You think of Dan Tyminski, of Adam Steffey, the guys who have been singing vocals in this band, they have that sort of warm, honeyed, Mac Wiseman-like bluegrass voice – less of the high lonesome and piercing, even though you have the range and you can get up there, too.

So many people’s reaction to the announcement was that you have a voice that’s perfect for this gig and for what we all come to expect as the AKUS sound. Did you have that realization too? Did you think, “Oh yeah, this is perfect for my voice”? Or did you feel like, “I’m going to have to work at this.”

What was your general reaction, musically, to coming into this? Not just as a guitarist, but also as a vocalist – and then, I assume you’ll be playing some mandolin too, like you said you were doing with Earls of Leicester. So how are you approaching it musically?

RM: I will be playing a little bit of mandolin, not a whole lot, but my main gig I guess you’d say would be playing guitar and vocals – harmony vocals and some lead vocals as well. I’ll be honest with you, Justin, I was concerned about some of the harmony singing. That’s the biggest thing.

It’s really intricate.

RM: It is very intricate! It’s not in the same breath that I usually sing at. I tend to sing very full throated. For lack of a better term, it’s a male voice trying to sing very high. I do it in a robust way. I do have subtleties that I use as well, but this application of trying to blend with Alison’s voice is a different place to be, for me, for sure.

I do sing harmony and I have for years, here and there, but still my vocal technique has always been full throated and far more harsh, a male vocalist trying to sing very high. This is a different application. I tried to do that on all the songs that I’m going to be singing harmony on with Alison, it would be too abrasive. I’m learning how to make it work with my voice and her voice. That is a really nice combination, [you don’t want] me standing out because of my approach to the harmony.

Of course, I do have songs that I’ll be singing lead on. Those, I’m just back to my old self doing my thing. But when it comes to the harmony stuff, most of the time I’m having to really listen and focus on how to project my voice to make her sound as best as she can and not interfere.

Are you going to be singing lead on some of your own music with AKUS?

RM: No. There might be one song, and I’m not going to give away any of the stuff that she has planned for the set list, but there might be one song that people recognize from IIIrd Tyme Out during the performance. For the most part, this is Union Station. We’re not trying to bring in Russell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out into the project whatsoever. We’re still around, we’re going to be performing when I’m not on the road with AKUS. There might be a small ode to IIIrd Tyme Out during the show, but it will be very small.

I’m not here to promote IIIrd Tyme Out with Alison Krauss. I’m here to promote Alison Krauss & Union Station and to be a part of that group and promote what this record release is and the stage show. I am a team player and I told them all, “You’ll never find anybody that’s more of a team player than I am, because I understand what that means.”

You’ve seen it on both sides. I’m glad you mentioned IIIrd Tyme Out continuing, because I think a lot of people’s natural reaction to the news was, “What about IIIrd Tyme Out!?” Of course IIIrd Tyme Out’s been going for so long, they’re gonna keep going.

RM: IIIrd Tyme Out is here to stay. When the conversations started about my being a part of Union Station going forward, I had a lot of questions. Can I do this? Should I do this? And that was one of them: “Will my band support me in this decision, or if I say yes, will they support me?”

[I consulted] my family, my wife, and everybody around me – it wasn’t a decision that was made quickly. I had to talk to people. Once I talked to my band members and I got their total support and thumbs-up affirmation – along with my wife, family, and friends – it was just like, “Okay, I have no reason not to do this. Everybody says I should and it’s a great opportunity.” At that point, I said yes.

Hopefully I can fulfill the position, because it’s not easy shoes to fill. I can tell you that right now I’m a huge Dan Tyminski fan. I have been since he came onto the scene way back – we’re talking Lonesome River Band days. He is so unique and his position with Union Station, until recently with his own band, that was the epitome of his career in my opinion.

Then, of course, he gets the head nod for Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? And the Stanley Brothers song, “Man of Constant Sorrow,” it’s still incorporated into his shows. I love the Stanley Brothers’ [version of the] song. I really do. But when I think about that song, I think about Dan Tyminski.

I guess the point is I’m a huge fan of Dan and his work. He is such an intricate part of what Union Station has been up to now. I think that those are big shoes to fill. I just hope I can facilitate that to everybody’s liking. I know there’s going to be some people that say, “No, it’s not Dan, it’s just not the same.” But I do want to say there are [many] eras of Union Station that were awesome, as well. You go back to when other people were in the group. Adam Steffey–

I’m partial to the Alison Brown era, too.

RM: Alison Brown! Oh, gosh, yes. Tim Stafford along that same time. I can’t say there’s been a bad ensemble for AKUS. It’s just evolved. And the fact that Dan was there for so long, that kind of solidifies that is the sound that most people – especially younger people who didn’t really start listening to AKUS until let’s say 20 years ago – are hearing. What they’re hearing is Dan Tyminski on guitar, singing harmony, and singing lead. That’s what they’re used to. That’s what they realize is AKUS music, and here’s this Texas guy coming in here trying to fill those shoes. I just hope I can satisfy everybody. I’ll do the best I can.

Alison Krauss & Union Station shot by Randee St. Nicholas with Russell Moore second from right.

It’s gotta feel exciting, especially after having done something like this your whole entire life, to have that sort of childlike wonder at it feeling so brand new and so fresh. Even after you have done literally exactly this for so long, there are still things that you’re excited to accomplish and new territory you’re excited to explore. That sounds really energizing and really positive.

RM: It is energizing. I’ll be honest, Justin, I’ve been playing music full time for a good 40 years. That’s awesome. And at this point, after 34 years of IIIrd Tyme Out – I’m not going to say I’ve become complacent, but it’s almost like, “Okay, I know what this week is going to bring and what next week is going to bring.” It’s the same thing, even though you try to explore different opportunities and things that come within that.

But this, I never would have thought that at this point in my career that this opportunity would arise and I’d get to do something like this. Because, like I said, I’m not so much complacent, but I know what’s ahead. When the phone call was made and we talked, I had no idea that I had another option, another fork in the road. This is absolutely surreal, in a lot of ways, for me to get this opportunity and without giving up IIIrd Tyme Out. All the support from everybody that I know, like I said, there was no reason to say no.

Another part of this that I’m really excited about [is being] able to experience some of these places, these venues, these shows that I’ve never been to before. Just being able to experience it – like playing Red Rocks Amphitheatre – and just so many places that I’ve always wanted to go to and perform at. I’m going to get to do that!

Checking them off the bucket list.

RM: There you go. It wouldn’t be possible, I don’t believe, with IIIrd Tyme Out. I was always exploring new opportunities and things like that, but I don’t think it would have been possible to perform at some of these places without being a part of AKUS.

To me, “Looks Like the End of the Road,” the first single from the upcoming album, feels like classic AKUS. The So Long, So Wrong era is what it reminded me of first. You still have those tinges of adult contemporary, you have the pads and the synth-y sound bed underneath it, and it almost feels transatlantic a bit here and there. Overall, it sounds like classic, iconic Allison Krauss & Union Station. What are your thoughts or feelings on the single or what can you tell us about that first track?

RM: I think that the song is a great representation of what is coming out with the full album release, Arcadia. It is a great nod to Alison Krauss & Union Station music over the last several years and the last several recordings.

I think that the song itself is just well written and perfect for Alison to sing. There’s a small part of harmony vocals – and what I love about the way she constructs her arrangements is that it’s not overdone with harmonies. This is Alison Krauss & Union Station, it’s not just Union Station. So the focus is on Alison and her vocals. In my opinion, that’s the way it should be. This song doesn’t come out from the get go with a five-string banjo just blasting off. It’s a great construction of the arrangement and the vocals.I think it was perfect.

The only thing that people have said is that the title itself made them think that this was the end of Allison Krauss & Union Station! Which is so far detached from the truth. It was just the first single that was released. It’s a beautifully constructed song.
I will say, this song is just a piece of the puzzle to the rest of the recording. It just paints a beautiful picture and a wonderful listening experience. When people get to hear the full album, they’ll understand what I’m talking about. It’s just awesome. It’s just, it’s a piece of the puzzle.

You’re going to be blown away. Absolutely blown away, as I was. I had my headphones on. I can’t tell you how many nights before I’d go to sleep, I’d have my headphones on [listening]. I listened to it two, three times a night, just because it was so enjoyable. It was just that good. I know that everybody else is gonna feel the same way when they hear the whole project.

Photo Credit: Matt Morrison

Alison Krauss & Union Station Announce ‘Arcadia,’ Their First Album in 14 Years

A few short weeks ago, Alison Krauss & Union Station made roots music waves announcing their first headlining tour since 2015, featuring dozens of dates stretching from April ’til September of this year. Now, the 14-time GRAMMY-winning bluegrass band is announcing their first album in 14 years, Arcadia, set for release on March 28 on Down The Road Records. This marks the return of Krauss & Union Station to collaborating with Rounder Records founders Ken Irwin, Marian Leighton Levy, Bill Nowlin, and John Virant, who recently began Down The Road Records. Decades ago, Irwin first signed the fiddle phenom when she was still a teenager.

With the album’s announcement, the band have released Arcadia‘s first single, “Looks Like the End of the Road,” a song written by Jeremy Lister that hearkens back to the emotive slow burns of classic AKUS albums like 1997’s So Long, So Wrong. (Listen above.) Gritty Dobro, by none other than Jerry Douglas of course, and pining mandolin tremolos are underpinned by sweeping pads and transatlantic textures. It all at once sounds like idiomatic Union Station while clearly signaling their transition from a former era to a newly minted one. “Looks Like the End of the Road” is an apropos beginning for this world-renowned group starting down a new highway.

“Usually, I find something that’s a first song, and then things fall into place,” says Krauss via press release. “That song was ‘Looks Like the End of the Road.’ Jeremy Lister wrote it, and it just felt so alive – and as always, I could hear the guys already playing it.”

“The guys,” at this juncture, include longtime band members Douglas, Ron Block, Barry Bales, and a new addition, Russell Moore, a 6-time winner of the IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year Award and a veteran frontman of bluegrass mainstays IIIrd Tyme Out.

“To say I’m excited about recording and touring with Alison Krauss & Union Station would be a huge understatement,” Moore gushed in the band’s December 2024 tour announcement. “After 40 years of playing music full-time and leading my own group for 34 years, this opportunity is among the few things at the top of the list that my music career has offered me. My hopes and desires are to fill this spot in AKUS with the same professionalism, precision, and thoughtfulness as other members who have held this position before me, and I’m looking forward to the ‘ride!'”

Tickets for the gargantuan Arcadia tour – which will feature special guest Willie Watson – are already on sale. Anticipation for the first studio album in 14 years from one of the most prominent and impactful bluegrass groups in history is remarkably high. Yet again, with Arcadia, Alison Krauss & Union Station are poised to bring their singular blend of bluegrass, Americana, adult contemporary, and stellar song interpretations to millions of fans and listeners around the world.

Want more? Listen to our exclusive Toy Heart interview with Alison Krauss here.

Photo Credit: Randee St. Nicholas

IBMA Awards 2019: See the Winners

With their first nomination in the top category, Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers secured the IBMA award for Entertainer of the Year on Thursday (September 26) from the International Bluegrass Music Association at a ceremony in Raleigh, North Carolina.

“Well, I don’t know how in the world this happened. I want every one of you guys right here,” he said to his band. “I’ve told them for years that one ol’ boy with a few corny jokes and a banjo in tune sometimes can’t do this by himself. It’s a team effort every time we leave the house and every time we climb on the stage.”

The group also picked up a trophy for Collaborative Recording of the Year with “The Guitar Song,” a duet between Mullins and Del McCoury. Meanwhile, McCoury won Album of the Year for Del McCoury Still Sings Bluegrass.

McCoury and longtime friend Jim Lauderdale traded introductions and hair jokes as co-hosts of the event, which has annually honored the top achievements in the thriving bluegrass community since 1990. Lauderdale opened the show with a performance of “When Carolina Comes Home” joined by all of the previous Instrumentalist of the Year winners. Moments later, a clip was shown from the inaugural 1990 event with Alison Brown (banjo), Alison Krauss (mandolin), Lynn Morris (guitar) Missy Raines (bass), and Andrea Zonn (fiddle).

A number of musicians made their first appearance at the podium in select categories, including Alan Bibey for Mandolin Player of the Year, Sideline for Song of the Year (“Thunder Dan”), and Sister Sadie for Vocal Group of the Year. Tina Adair spoke on behalf of the group, while her colleagues Dale Ann Bradley and Gena Britt barely held back their tears. (Deanie Richardson is also a member of the group.)

“You know what, I love making music,” Adair said. “I’ve been singing since I was 3 years old on stage. It’s something I’ve always loved to do but I love it even better with these gals right here.”

In addition, Billy Strings was named Guitar Player of the Year. The fast-rising talent also claimed the New Artist of the Year trophy. He was unable to attend.

Brooke Aldridge earned her third consecutive award as Female Vocalist, while IIIrd Tyme Out’s Russell Moore rebounded with a Male Vocalist Year win, his first since 2012 and sixth overall. Additional familiar faces include Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper for Instrumental Group, their fifth win. Cleveland collected his 12^th trophy in the fiddle category as well.

Other returning winners in instrumentalist categories are Kristin Scott Benson (banjo), Phil Leadbetter (resophonic guitar), and Missy Raines (bass). Raines also took home the Instrumental Recording of the Year honors for “Darlin’ Pal(s) of Mine,” which featured Alison Brown, Mike Bub, and Todd Phillips. Claire Lynch’s “Gonna Sing, Gonna Shout” earned the Gospel Recording of the Year award. But it was Leadbetter whose name brought the crowd to its feet, as the five-time cancer survivor shared the joy of his latest remarkable recovery.

The recipients of the 2019 International Bluegrass Music Awards are listed below:

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR:
Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR:
Sister Sadie (this is the band’s first win in this category)

INSTRUMENTAL GROUP OF THE YEAR:
Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper

SONG OF THE YEAR:
“Thunder Dan” — Sideline (artist), Josh Manning (writer) Tim Surrett (producer), Mountain Home Music Company (label)

ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
Del McCoury Still Sings Bluegrass – Del McCoury Band (artist), Del and Ronnie McCoury (producer), McCoury Music (label)

GOSPEL RECORDING OF THE YEAR:
“Gonna Sing, Gonna Shout” – Claire Lynch (artist), Jerry Salley (producer), Billy Blue Records (label)

INSTRUMENTAL RECORDING OF THE YEAR:
“Darlin’ Pal(s) of Mine” – Missy Raines with Alison Brown, Mike Bub, and Todd Phillips (artist), Alison Brown (producer), Compass Records (label)

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR:
Billy Strings

COLLABORATIVE RECORDING OF THE YEAR:
“The Guitar Song” — Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers with Del McCoury (artists), Joe Mullins (producer), Jerry Salley (associate producer) Billy Blue (label)

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR:
Brooke Aldridge

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR:
Russell Moore

BANJO PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Kristin Scott Benson

BASS PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Missy Raines

FIDDLE PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Michael Cleveland

GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Billy Strings

MANDOLIN PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Alan Bibey

RESOPHONIC GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Phil Leadbetter

Previously announced inductees into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame — Mike Auldridge, Bill Emerson, and The Kentucky Colonels — were honored at this evening’s show.

At the Industry Awards Luncheon held earlier in the day, these recipients were announced:

BROADCASTER OF THE YEAR:
Michelle Lee

EVENT OF THE YEAR:
Blueberry Bluegrass Festival – Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada

LINER NOTES OF THE YEAR:
Epilogue: A Tribute to John Duffey
Akira Otsuka, Dudley Connell, Jeff Place, Katy Daley

GRAPHIC DESIGNER OF THE YEAR:
Michael Armistead

WRITER OF THE YEAR:
David Morris

SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR:
Jerry Salley

SOUND ENGINEER OF THE YEAR:
Ben Surratt

The previously announced 2019 Distinguished Achievement Award recipients — Katy Daley, Mickey Gamble, Dan Hays, Allen Mills, and Moonshiner — were also honored at today’s luncheon.