Alison Krauss on Line -Up changes in Union Station, new album ‘Arcadia’

When Alison Krauss kicked ideas about what her newest album should call with Union Station, the Eureka moment came while he was on the phone with a friend who happened to be on his way to play a church performance in a small Louisiana town of Arcadia.

“I am something like:” Oh, what a beautiful name. ” I came the phone and looked up what it meant, “says Krauss Rolling stoneIt is explained that “Arcadia” describes a region of simple pleasure and quiet. ‘It could not be [truer] to what we were doing. “

With a buzzing mix of bluegrasscountry and folk music, Arcadia Is the first Alison Krauss & Union Station -Album in 14 years. The album again shows the meteoric talent that has always been lived in the Powerhouse Enemble since their debut album Two highways In 1989, when Krauss – a singer of the songbird and an elegant violin player – was only a teenager.

“We never intend to be so long,” says Krauss about the absence of the band. “It was too late. And I was looking for songs for the next album for us when we made the last one.”

Krauss had the idea of ​​”Arcadia” form the album process, especially the nature component of the word. It is this pastoral landscape where time does not seem to exist, right with cherished images in your spirit of people, places and things that you miss and desire.

“That’s how it is [Dolly Parton] Song, “in the good old days when the times were bad,” Krauss chuckles.

Krauss points to the legendary paintings of Norman Rockwell, iconic illustrations that depict daily American life on the cover of The Saturday evening post Decades long. The sentimental images still evoke such lively memories in the hearts of many.

“It’s a normal life in such a beautiful presentation,” says Krauss. “It is honor, loyalty, community, family, faith, faith system. It was presented as encouragement as things are difficult. And I always felt the same about Bluegrass melodies. In my mind they always found place in a Norman Rockwell painting -those stories, those old songs.”

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Union Station has never really been omitted. You circles back from time to time. But why felt it was time to get the band back together?
It was a lot with [scheduling] With everyone. If you tour, everyone will book six months to nine months in advance, you know? And then there were four other people. In addition to the mine, there are schedules to make it happen. I think I wrote everyone for the first time: “Hey, I have these songs.” I think it was the beginning of 2021. It just took so long to let it happen, to find a time that everyone could be together. But in between everyone made records. I made a few records. It should not have been that long.

A lot has changed in Bluegrass, Country and Americana Music in the last 14 years. Union Station were pioneers who really opened many doors in those worlds. I’m curious what you see in this new landscape?
Good, Billy Strings Has so much respect and honors the old songs. We all love that he keeps those old songs alive and absorbs the old tunes that we all grew up with playing. He is a pioneer at the same time. He is a traditionalist. And Sierra FerrellWho sings everything, she has been as good as everyone has ever been, as far as an incredible singer is and representing someone who honors the past as much as she makes her own way. I love what those two people do for acoustic music that we all love so much.

I would suspect that there is a lot of solidarity with what your intention was and remains as an artist comparable to where they are now.
I like beautiful songs and telling the story. And everyone in the band has always had such a unique, individual sound for them. Everyone has the same mentality of “let’s just present these songs in the way we feel they should be.” There is never much to be established with regulations or forcing something because it seemed smart. We wanted it to always be a very natural production. That has always been the attitude for us. I never thought I would do this for a living. So it’s all a surprise. [Laughs]. And if I say ‘anyway’, it was just always something I thought all day long and thought as a child. Thought of the songs and what everyone looked like when they recorded in the studio, what the studio looked like and what they thought of when they sang. Those were the things of my daydream.

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You come across as someone who probably never lost the childish miracle of creating, and also gratitude for what you create.
Oh, that’s so nice. I feel so. I’m in love with it. Often when I get home from the studio, even when it’s a tough day, I get home and I can’t stop thinking about it. [Laughs]. When you record, you go along and you really have to evaluate yourself. You try to get each syllable in a beautiful place with a kind of shine on it, you know? It takes a while to get that. I have no pride, whatever it is needed to get it there. I love the process, because those little things can sometimes change the atmosphere. And even if you go me and it goes, you can hit excellent every now and then. And they can’t be much in between, but boy, if so, it takes you to work on something because of the next long period. Every now and then you can be part of something that can achieve something perfectly and it will last for a lifetime.

If you did not go through that process, you would not have reached that excellent point. You can’t shorten it.
No, I don’t think you can sniff. But I will say this, those guys [in Union Station]When we do the tracks, they are flexible. That is a simple, beautiful process. It is magical there with the headphones on. It’s just something like that. And maybe they would feel different, but not me. I don’t see it as the only form of work, they play so beautiful. It is so selfless as I hear that unless I am wrong, those days are like butter. Now that I, that’s a different story. [Laughs].

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQeukjWW9EO

Arcadia Has a gravity in the numbers.
My son asked me: “How do you sing all these sad songs?” I always have. I always feel that it is the story of a survivor.

That is the weird thing, where Bluegrass is like blues music. It is very sad, but it is meant to elevate.
Yes. And it does. Someone tells their story and you join yourself and they told you. People all have the same emotions, circumstances change. Often, that’s how history is, the stories of people are remembered. If someone puts it in a song, it will live forever. It is so important to remember, and especially in Bluegrass it is a way of life. Those melodies that most people play this kind of music, they always say: “I was born in the wrong time. I was born in the wrong decade.” And they all want to live there. I do that too.

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With the new album there will be a big tour. But the bigger news on the side was singer and guitarist Dan Tyminski Union Station and Russell Moore left. How was that process, and why was Russell the man?
Then his solo music had done for a while because we were gone and did not play together. So he had many things he had done. And when we came together again, he was very proud of what he did. If we look back through that process, it does not seem so shocking that he wanted to stay with it. He felt that he could not balance them both. And I knew he was stressed about that when we started to record. I knew he was worried about that. We all did that. And in Bluegrass during that generation are both then and Russell at the same time. Russell is the other man who was that super powerful tenorstem who defined a generation of singing.

I saw Russell for the first time when I was 14 and he was 21. I didn’t speak to him, but I saw him singing on stage. And there are pictures of me with my mouth open looking at him. He had just become a member of Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. Russell came in there and just took over. And when this came with then, we all came together on the phone. [Dobroist] Jerry [Douglas] said to me, “What do you think?” And I said, “Russell Moore.” They all went: “Oh, yes.” It was a very sweet moment, as a unanimous excitement about the possibility that he is coming … I am just grateful that I have the chance to do this again.