Alison Krauss & Union Station w/ Jerry Douglas
The Green at Shelburne Museum
Shelburne, Vermont
June 4, 2010 - Friday
Audio Technica AT 853 rx > Naiant Littlebox > Edirol R09 HR [24/44.1]
Mastering in WaveLab 6.0 with iZotope Ozone 4.0 dithered to [16/44.1]
Alison Krauss – Fiddle, Vocals
Jerry Douglas – Dobro
Dan Tyminski – Guitar, Mandolin, Vocals
Ron Block – Banjo, Guitar
Barry Bales – Bass
** 16 Bit **
1. Let Me Touch You For A While
2. This Sad Song
3. Cluck Old Hen
4. The Lucky One
5. Baby Now That I’ve Found You
6. Ghost In This House
7. Rain Please Go Away
8. Sawing On The Strings
9. Shadows
10. Jerry Douglas Solo Medley:
A Tribute to Peador O'Donnell >
Lil' RoRo >
Little Martha >
Monkey Let the Hogs Out
Band returns:
11. The Boy Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn
12. Jacob’s Dream
13. Gravity
14. Restless
15. Man Of Constant Sorrow
16. Every Time You Say Goodbye
17. I’ve Got That Old Feeling
18. When You Say Nothing At All
19. You’re Just A Country Boy
20. Oh Atlanta
21. Crowd
Encore:
22. A Living Prayer
Time: 96:10
To burn to 2 discs begin d2 with t12
Ben & Jerry’s Concert on The Green Series at The Shelburne Museum
Also Appearing:
Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys
Tony Rice Unit
Larry Sparks
Dale Ann Bradley
---
It’s been awhile since Alison Krauss & Union Station have been together. Krauss has certainly been busy
— the bluegrass queen toured on the strength of her Grammy-winning, T Bone Burnett-produced 2007 duet
with former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant. Her band members, including West Rutland native Dan Tyminski,
had their own projects, too.
Friday, June 4th’s concert kicking off this year’s Shelburne Museum Concerts on the Green series is
the start of a handful of shows Krauss will be doing with Union Station leading up to their next album.
The show will include Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys, The Tony Rice Unit, Larry Sparks and
Dale Ann Bradley. Krauss spoke by phone Tuesday, June 1 from her home in Tennessee.
Burlington Free Press: What was it like returning to Union Station after all you’ve done in the past
couple of years with the whole Robert Plant phenomenon — was it like getting back on the bicycle or
did it feel a little strange?
Alison Krauss: Oh, no, it’s not strange at all. What I enjoy is when you haven’t played together
for so long and you don’t remember the lyrics to everything and you don’t remember whose solo
comes where, you know, there’s an element that makes everything fresh again. I like the newness of
it, and I like kind of the scariness of it before you remember where everything goes.
BFP: I imagine it’s scariness but also probably a sense of familiarity — “I know we’ll figure
this out pretty soon.”
AK: Yes, but I don’t think everybody has the same feeling about it. If I said anybody was the
more anxious of the band, I would be that person, probably. I like that it just brings newness
to the songs that you’ve done for so long — you like ‘em or you love ‘em or whatever.
It’s got enough to scare me.
BFP: Well, your name is at the start of the band so I think you’ve got a right to be a little
more anxious about it than everybody else.
AK: (Laughs) Anxious, annoying, whatever the right words are (laughs).
BFP: Any specific ideas that you or any of the band members have brought back — a sort of
freshness that has come into the band since you got back together?
AK: Oh, I mean, it feels fresh. But those guys are always playing. Everybody in the band,
you know, the guys are very innovative — innovative isn’t the word, but they have their own
character when they play. They are all each such individual players on their instruments;
it’s what they all have been known for before we started playing together. It’s always an
inspiring place to be.
BFP: They weren’t sitting around waiting for you while you were off on your merry adventures. ...
AK: No, no, nor were they doing that before we started playing together.
BFP: Dan, of course, being from here, I talked to him a couple of years ago and he was on
tour with his own band, he was all over the place. He was not getting rusty, that’s for sure.
AK: Oh, no, he doesn’t really do that.
BFP: It looks like the show you’re doing here on Friday is the first of only a handful
of dates you’re doing.
AK: Yes. We started in the studio last summer; it’s almost been a year, and started a new album and
we thought we’d be finished by now. But we decided to do a few, I guess about eight or 10 dates this
summer, and then when we have the new album out we’ll do more.
BFP: And you’re doing it (the short tour) with a pretty impressive lineup — Ralph Stanley’s
going to be at the show, and Tony Rice.
AK: Only two of those (shows). Yeah, I’m so excited. I can’t wait to hear everybody.
BFP: It’s like an all-star squad, isn’t it?
AK: It’s going to be a blast. Ralph, there’s only one Ralph (laughs); it’s very exciting, and
Dale Ann Bradley is like — I don’t know how familiar you are with her, oh my gosh, she’s
fantastic (whispers), a fantastic singer.
BFP: So from the top of the lineup to, I think she’s the last one listed, everyone’s worth hearing then, huh?
AK: Oh, yeah. And Larry, Larry Sparks, oh my gosh. What I think is so special about the other
folks on this show is they’re iconic, they’re the first of their style of bluegrass, and with
Tony and Ralph, Dale Ann, I think she’s just great, really beautiful, but she’s a very spirited
singer. Each one of these performers on that show, for myself when I hear them sing, it’s a movie
soundtrack. They have such an identity that you can’t help but watch that scene when you hear
their voice. It’s pretty special. Each one of them — huge personalities.
BFP: And it sounds like they’re putting a new spin on what a lot of people think is maybe a very
sort of static sort of music — a lot of people think, “Bluegrass, I know what bluegrass is,” but
it sounds like from what you’re saying they’re updating and putting their own marks on it.
AK: Updating it? Yeah, but I feel like a lot of the updates that have come to bluegrass in particular
have reduced the magic of it. And these folks — Larry, oh my goodness — like what I was saying, you
can’t help but watch whatever movie in your mind with the voices and what they’re singing. They
bring their history. These guys bring a history of where they grew up and their lifestyle, and they
came from where this music originated. I came from Illinois and there was a lot of bluegrass going on.
But Dale Ann is from Kentucky and Ralph is from way up on the mountains in western Virginia and Larry,
he’s originally from the Kentucky/Indiana border. And, you know, this is their life. Tony, those
records of Tony’s really shaped — actually, all these folks really were a huge influence on me.
It’s very exciting for me to be there to hear everybody.
BFP: When I talked to Dan last time we talked a little bit about him being from Vermont, which is not
exactly seen as a bluegrass Mecca, and he joked that he tells people he’s from southern Vermont so it
sounds like he’s from the South. Have you ever seen his home area in the times you’ve visited Vermont?
Did he ever take you on the grand tour of West Rutland or Rutland?
AK: We’ve played in Rutland, and he’s talked about it. You know, we’ve driven, and he goes, “OK, here we go,
it’s West Rutland.” And then, you know, like five seconds later he goes, “OK, there we go” (laughs).
BFP: A “blink and you miss it” kind of thing?
AK: He’s very funny. Some of the stories are very funny, about his best friend from there. But, you know,
he grew up in a family, that’s what they did (bluegrass), that was the social event. So they may be from Vermont,
but that’s what they did.
BFP: I’m sure you have found from audiences that it’s a state that’s very much into traditional and
Americana and folk music, so even though it’s not per se a bluegrass haven it’s certainly a place that
has an affinity for the music.
AK: It’s funny because where I grew up people are like “There’s no way there was bluegrass,” but there
were like five or six bluegrass bands in the town I grew up in. I think because it’s not a commercial
music people think it’s not existing there. But it does. It’s a secret society.