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Alison Krauss had already achieved notable success in the bluegrass world before the success of “O Brother Where Art Thou?” Her 1995 album, “Now That I've Found You: A Collection,” recorded with her band Union Station, became the top-selling bluegrass album in recording history, hitting double platinum. Krauss' 1999 solo album, “Forget About It,” went gold.

But it was the 2000 movie directed by Joel and Ethan Coen that brought Krauss to a wider audience -- specifically, the film's incredibly popular soundtrack. People who had never explored bluegrass before went crazy for the songs accompanying the quirky adventures of three convicts on the run in the 1930s South. A loose riff on Homer's Odyssey, “O Brother” featured period-specific music prominently throughout the film, including the transcendental “I'll Fly Away,” a collaboration between Krauss and Gillian Welch, and the spooky “Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby,” with Welch and Emmylou Harris.


Their 1989 album, “Two Highways,” was nominated for a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Recording. Krauss and Union Station went home empty-handed that year, but their follow-up, 1990's “I've Got That Old Feeling,” not only won a Grammy, but laid the groundwork for Krauss' later stardom. Union Station's lineup changed to include mandolinist Adam Steffey, banjoist/guitarist Ron Block, bassist Barry Bales and guitarist Tim Stafford. Stafford later left the group and was replaced by Dan Tyminski. In 2004, the group won another Grammy, this time for Best Country Album, with “Lonely Runs Both Ways.”

Krauss continued down her eclectic path with 2007's “Raising Sand,” a critically acclaimed and commercially successful collaboration with Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant and famed producer T Bone Burnett. Described as a “mesmerizing modern-day masterpiece,” “Raising Sand” earned six Grammys, including Album of the Year and Song of the Year -- for “Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)” -- bringing Krauss' lifetime total to 26, more than any other female artist in music's history.

She reunited with Union Station for her latest album, “Paper Airplane,” their first collection of all-new recordings since 2004's “Lonely Runs Both Ways.”


Respected for her introspective nature as an artist, Krauss is nonetheless known as outgoing and spontaneous in person. On “Paper Airplane” she and the band balance what Rolling Stone magazine called “devastating breakup songs” with pure virtuoso playing. “Paper Airplane” includes a cover of Richard Thompson's “Dimming of the Day,” an already oft-covered track, but, as the BBC noted, “When Alison Krauss does a song, it's like nobody else ever recorded it.”


”I'd first heard 'Dimming of the Day' when T Bone Burnett played it for me three years ago,” she explains. Her immediate reaction was, “Oh, I can't do that!” But when the band was gathering tunes for this album, Krauss changed her mind. 

”The funny thing is,” she continued, “I'd been thinking about it, and Robert Castleman called to tell me he had the most perfect song for me.” That track turned out to be “Dimming of the Day.”

Ultimately, making “Paper Airplane” was a revelatory experience for this long-established band.



If you go

What: Alison Krauss

When: 8 p.m. Friday

Where: HSU Van Duzer Theatre

Admission: $85 general, $75 HSU students