Concert Review: Alison Krauss and Union Station

A couple weeks ago, I attended the Alison Krauss and Union Station concert at Bobcat's Arena in uptown (the local name for downtown) Charlotte. Along with the Who and Sara Groves, Alison Krauss is probably my favorite recording artist/band. Union Station is, by all accounts, a band of bluegrass superstars, but I'm not an authority on such things. I just like Alison's voice, which to me is the embodiment of "the high lonesome sound." (I know calling her by her first name seems a bit presumptuous, but calling her Krauss just sounds ugly. "Krauss" is the name of one of those chubby beer-guzzlin' frat boys you'd see in a movie like Animal House.)

As far as major concerts go, I've seen The Who twice and that's been it (I don't count the Amy Grant Christmas extravaganza). So, it was quite a change to see this show. The Who, in their younger days, were the loudest rock and roll band in the world, and at a rock and roll show, particularly The Who, the audience is expected to participate by contributing noise of their own. Bluegrass, on the other hand, has, for some reason, become a Respectable musical form and the audience too often sits quietly as if they're watching a symphony orchestra. Only when the band broke into the up-tempo bluegrass numbers did the audience liven up a little. The crowd just seemed too quiet. It didn't help that the album the band was promoting, A Hundred Miles or More, is a moody collection of mostly somber and depressing tunes.

But the band was great. If it's possible, the band is too talented. Most of the songs were performed record-perfect. One of the joys of live performance is to hear the improvisational talents of the musicians and the rough edge live music is supposed to contain. If the songs sound just like the record, then what's the point? Still, AK&US put on a really good show, and I enjoyed the playful interaction between band members.

For me, the highlights of the evening were the dobro solo by Jerry Douglas, "Jacob's Dream" - a mournful song from the new album, a lively rendition of Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin'", and, of course, "Man of Constant Sorrow" with vocals by Dan Tyminski. I think that last song, from O Brother, Where Are Thou?, has become the band's golden albatross. It earned them popular attention, but they'll never be able to do another concert without performing that song, even if they're around another 40 years.

There were only two disappointments to the show. One was the very brief encore, which consisted only of one song - "When You Say Nothing at All." That's the song that put Alison Krauss on the map, and she performed it to perfection. The second disappointment was that "A Living Prayer" was not in the set list. It's an outstanding song that puts Alison's wonderful voice on display. There's a nice little homemade video of the song on YouTube you can watch by clicking here: "A Living Prayer".

Overall, the concert was great, even if it was a bit quiet. And having seen today's most popular bluegrass band somehow makes me feel like I'm a bit more of a true North Carolinian than I was before.