Alison Krauss

• Born: July 23, 1971
• Place of Birth: Decauter, Illinois

• AMERICAN SINGER, VIOLINIST, AND COMPOSER

Krauss combined her talents as instrumentalist and vocalist to make bluegrass more accessible. In the mid-tempo mode, Krauss’s music features sweet sonic textures, avoiding the often precision-oriented feel of bluegrass.

• MEMBER OF Union Station

The Life

Alison Maria Krauss was born July 23, 1971, in Decatur, Illinois, and she grew up in the college town of Champaign, home to a campus of the University of Illinois. At an early age, Krauss began to study classical violin. Krauss related many years later that her mother wanted her to be exposed to different cultural experiences and music, as well as team sports and art.

Soon Krauss was regarded as a child prodigy. When she switched to playing country and bluegrass, Krauss entered talent competitions, her first at the age of eight. By the time she was ten, Krauss had her own band. Two years later, she won the Illinois State Fiddle Championship.

Krauss has gained a reputation as one of the most self-effacing performers in the bluegrass-country arena. She is noted for her easygoing stage manner and her joke-cracking, especially directed at herself, on such topics as her weight and her pop-idol status. In November 1997, Krauss married Pat Bergeson. The couple had a son in July 1999, before divorcing in August 2001.

The Music

In 1985, Krauss, who was not yet fifteen, made her recording debut on her brother Viktor’s album. Later in the year, she was signed by Rounder Records, a Massachusetts-based label that specializes in roots music (and became famous for signing blues guitarist George Thorogood). In 1987, Krauss released Too Late to Cry, and at the age of sixteen, she received positive reviews from music critics. “Two Highways” was released in 1989, with Krauss supported by her backup band, Union Station. Known as her “purest bluegrass effort,” it secured her first Grammy Award nomination, just in time for her eighteenth birthday. For her next album, Krauss meshed her bluegrass roots with soft country and pop music stylings—to much acclaim.

I’ve Got That Old Feeling.I’ve Got That Old Feeling gave nineteen-year-old Krauss her first Grammy Award, for Best Bluegrass Recording. The International Bluegrass Music Association named it 1991’s Album of the Year. Krauss and Union Station then released Every Time You Say Goodbye, and on July 3, 1993, Krauss was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. At age twenty-three, she was the Grand Ole Opry’s youngest cast member and the first bluegrass musician inducted in twenty-nine years.

I Know Who Holds Tomorrow and Now That I’ve Found You. Krauss moved on to Southern gospel music and demonstrated her abilities in production when she joined the Cox Family for the album I Know Who Holds Tomorrow in 1994. Although her fiddle-playing prowess paved the way for her musical career, Krauss has a talent as a vocalist that should not be overlooked. Her cover of “Baby, Now That I’ve Found You” (from her 1995 covers album Now That I’ve Found You: A Collection) is a moving rendition of the heartbreak song. The collection of 1960s love songs still stands as one of Krauss’s biggest successes; a staggering 105 of 115 reviewers on Amazon.com give the record a five-star rating. Rolling Stone also raved, calling Krauss “a crystalline soprano (who) sings with riveting emotion.” The album went double platinum and reached number three on the U.S. country-music charts. In 1995 Krauss’ version of the song “When You Say Nothing at All” reached number three on the country singles charts, and it crossed over onto the pop charts as well.

Forget About It and O Brother, Where Art Thou? In 1999, Krauss moved a little further from her bluegrass roots with Forget About It. The title track and many of the songs from the album were considered pop-bluegrass meldings. In 2000, Krauss contributed to the Cohen Brothers’ film, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, which helped revive the popularity of bluegrass music, bringing it to the attention of a mainstream audience and attracting new fans from the country and pop genres. Krauss and Union Station even remade the hit song “Man of Constant Sorrow” with a faster, more energetic tone, making it a hit single. A North American tour in the summer of 2002 brought Krauss and Union Station to a new height of popularity.

Lonely Runs Both Ways. In 2005, Lonely Runs Both Ways hit number one on the bluegrass charts and number six on the country charts. Krauss and Union Station also received two Grammy Awards for the album, including Best Country Instrumental Performance for “Unionhouse Branch” and Best Country Performance by a Duo-Group Award for “Restless.” The album also won Country Album of the Year. This gave Krauss a total of twenty Grammy Awards, making her the most honored female artist. She is also tied for seventh on the all-time Grammy Award winner’s list. Two tracks she cut for the Cold Mountain (2003) soundtrack were also nominated for Oscars.

Union Station took a break from recording and touring throughout 2006, though Krauss worked as a guest performer on other projects. She also helped produce Alan Jackson’s 2006 release, Like a Red Rose, acclaimed for expanding his horizons as an artist.

Paper Airplane. Union Station returned in 2011 with a follow-up to Lonely Runs Both Ways, which recording engineer Mike Shipley said took a long time to record because Krauss was suffering from frequent migraines. The album reached number one on the Billboard country chart, the first of Krauss's albums to do so, and became Krauss's highest-charting album on the Billboard 200, where it debuted at number three. It also reached number one on Billboard's folk and bluegrass charts and was a minor success in Europe. Paper Airplane won a Grammy for best bluegrass album—Krauss's twenty-seventh win, bringing her to a tie with Quincy Jones for second-highest number of Grammy Awards.

Windy City. In 2017, Krauss released her first solo album in seventeen years, a collection of covers of country and folk classics. Windy City earned Krauss two Grammy Award nominations, for Best Country Solo Performance and Best American Roots Performance, and debuted at number one on the country, folk, and bluegrass Billboard charts. It also reached number one on the UK country albums chart. A critic for Billboard named the track "It's Goodbye and So Long to You" one of Krauss's best songs of all time.

Raise the Roof (with Robert Plant). Krauss released the album Raise the Roof, a collaboration with British singer-songwriter Robert Plant. Released in November 2021, the album was Krauss's second recording with Plant. The first, Raising Sand, was released in 2007. Raising Sand won a 2009 Grammy Award for Best Album and Album of the Year in 2008 at the Americana Music Honors & Awards. Both albums consist mostly of cover songs infused with originality from Plant and Krauss.

Musical Legacy

Krauss’s sweet soprano voice—which often veers into driving textures and vocals that might be shouted or hollered—makes her a distinct force in bluegrass. Her production talents and credits continue to expand, and she has established an enviable reputation for making the artists with whom she works accessible to listeners without pandering to current popularity trends.

A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection perhaps best represents her collective musical contributions, showcasing a number of Krauss’s previous collaborations—with artists such as Brad Paisley, John Waite, James Taylor, and Natalie MacMaster. Throughout her career, Krauss remained with Rounder Records, which has overseen her progress from teenage prodigy to prolific independent artist. She has fiddled and sung in multiple genres, from bluegrass to mainstream to pop. In 2024, the artist was named a member of the Order of Lincoln by the state of Illinois. Krauss was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2019. In 2021, she was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.

Principal Recordings

ALBUMS (solo): Different Strokes, 1985; Too Late to Cry, 1987; I’ve Got That Old Feeling, 1991; I Know Who Holds Tomorrow, 1994 (with the Cox Family); Now That I’ve Found You: A Collection, 1995; Forget About It, 1999; Raising Sand, 2007 (with Robert Plant); Raise the Roof, 2021.

ALBUMS (with Union Station): Every Time You Say Goodbye, 1992; Two Highways, 1992; So Long So Wrong, 1997; New Favorite, 2001; Lonely Runs Both Ways, 2004.

Bibliography

Crawford, Sean. "Musician Alison Krauss, Baseball Star Jim Thome Among Latest Lincoln Laureates." NPR Illinois, 12 Feb. 2024, www.nprillinois.org/arts-life/2024-02-12/musician-alison-krauss-baseball-star-jim-thome-among-latest-lincoln-laureates. Accessed 15 Oct. 2024.

Dauphin, Chuck. "Alison Krauss' 10 Best Songs: Critic's Picks." Billboard, 30 Aug. 2017, www.billboard.com/articles/columns/country/7948922/alison-krauss-songs-best-hits-list. Accessed 15 Oct. 2024.

Menaker, Daniel. “Alison Krauss: O Superstar, Where Art Thou?” The New York Times, January 24, 2002.

Pareles, Jon. “When It Takes Three People to Make a Duet.” The New York Times, October 21, 2007.

Walden, Eric. "Voice Issues Resolved, Alison Krauss Continues On with Her 'Incredible Gift.'" The Salt Lake Tribune, 12 Oct. 2017, www.sltrib.com/artsliving/music/2017/10/12/voice-issues-resolved-alison-krauss-continues-on-with-her-incredible-gift/. Accessed 15 Oct. 2024.