name	I'll Fly Away
musicby	Albert E. Brumley
wordsby	Albert E. Brumley
published	1932
origlanguage	English
meter	9.4.9.4
tradmelodyname	I'LL FLY AWAY
audio sample?	}}

"I'll Fly Away", is a hymn written in 1929 by Albert E. Brumley and published in 1932 by the Hartford Music company in a collection titled ''Wonderful Message''. Brumley's writing was influenced in part by an older secular ballad.

"I'll Fly Away" has been called the most recorded gospel song, and it is frequently used in worship services by Baptists, Pentecostals, Nazarenes, the Churches of Christ and many Methodists. It appears in many hymnals where it is listed under the topics of eternal life, heaven and acceptance. It is a standard song at bluegrass jam sessions and is often performed at funerals. Its popularity among Christians is somewhat curious, given that its basic affirmation of escaping the prison of the material world after death is more consistent with the heresy of Gnosticism than with traditional Christianity's emphasis on the resurrection of the dead. However, the hymn's theme of escaping the trouble and sorrow of this world for the joy of the afterlife is very much in keeping with both Protestant and Catholic spirituality and does not necessarily imply the Gnostic idea that the created world is evil and repugnant to God.

History

Albert E. Brumley has been described as the "pre-eminent gospel songwriter" of the 20th century with over 600 published songs. Other titles of his include "Turn Your Radio On", "I'll Meet You in the Morning", and "The World Is Not My Home". According to interviews, Brumley came up with the idea for the song while picking cotton on his father's farm in Rock Island, Oklahoma. Brumley says that as he worked he was "humming the old ballad that went like this: 'If I had the wings of an angel, over these prison walls I would fly,' and suddenly it dawned on me that I could use this plot for a gospel-type song." The song Brumley described appears to be "The Prisoner's Song" It was an additional three years later until Brumley worked out the rest of the song, paraphrasing one line from the secular ballad to read, "Like a bird from prison bars has flown" using prison as an analogy for earthly life. Brumley has stated, "When I wrote it, I had no idea that it would become so universally popular."

Recordings

The Selah Jubilee Singers

name	I'll Fly Away
artist	Selah Jubilee Singers
released	?
format	78 rpm
recorded	February 21, 1941
genre	gospel
label	Decca 7831 (reissued Document DOCD 5499)
next single	}}

One of the earliest recordings of "I'll Fly Away" was made by the Selah Jubilee Singers in February 1941 for Decca Records. The group was founded around 1927 by Thermon Ruth, a disc jockey at radio station WOR in Brooklyn New York.

[Released date?] - Decca 7831 - "Hide me in thy Bosom"/"I'll Fly Away"

James and Martha Carson

name	I'll Fly Away
artist	James and Martha Carson
released	1951
format	Short Play
recorded	?
genre	gospel
label	Capitol 1415
next single	}}

James and Martha Carson, also known as the "Barn Dance Sweethearts" released their first recordings on White Church in 1947 and later signed with Capitol in 1949. They recorded 22 numbers for Capitol and "I'll Fly Away" is one of a half-dozen that "did well" for them.

1951 - Capitol 1415 - "I'll Fly Away"/"We Will Rise and Shine"

The Chuck Wagon Gang

name	I'll Fly Away
artist	Chuck Wagon Gang
released	1950(?)
format	78 rpm
recorded	December 16, 1948
genre	gospel
label	Columbia
next single	}}

The Chuck Wagon Gang's 1948 recording of "I'll Fly Away" for Columbia sold over one-million copies and ranks among the top selling gospel records of all-time, and is listed among the top selling songs of the 1940s in general. In 1950, ''Billboard'' reported that American disc jockeys voted the Chuck Wagon Gang "18th most popular of all singing groups in the nation," considering all music genres, and the third most popular recording artist for Columbia.

In a history given by the current Chuck Wagon Gang, their recording of "I'll Fly Away" is described as the "first commercially licensed" release." Their recording appears to have had two releases on Columbia, first as a B-side in 1949, then as an A-side in 1950. 1949 - Columbia 20599 - "Dream Boat"/"I'll Fly Away" 1950 - Columbia 20701 - "I'll Fly Away"/"Looking for a City"

The Kossoy Sisters

In 1956, the Kossoy Sisters included "I'll Fly Away" on the album, ''Bowling Green'', which featured instrumental backing by Erik Darling. The Kossoys, actually twin sisters Irene Saletan and Ellen Christenson, are known for their close harmony singing, which is exemplified on this track. Their recording was introduced to a wider audience when it was included in the 2000 Coen Brothers film, ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?''.

Steve Goodman

Steve Goodman played blues-infused a version of the song at concerts in the late 1970s performing solo and accompanying himself on slide guitar a version that he learned from Jim Brewer. Their version included a new section of music and lyrics in the middle. The live recordings were only made available after Goodman's death in 1984. They are included on ''The Steve Goodman Anthology'' (1994) and ''Live at The Earl of Old Town'' (2006). In one of the recordings Goodman tells his audience, "This is the song that proves you don't have to know very much about Jesus to like spirituals."

Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch

There have been numerous recordings of "I'll Fly Away" since its inclusion in the 2000 film ''O Brother Where Art Thou?'', although a vintage recording was used in the film itself, (see Kossoy Sisters above), a contemporary recording by Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch was chosen for the ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' soundtrack. The spare recording, produced by T-Bone Burnett, features Welch on lead vocals with Krauss singing harmony. Their voices are accompanied by Mike Compton on mandolin and Chris Sharp on guitar. The soundtrack sold over eight million copies, reached the top position on at least four of ''Billboard'''s album charts, and was named Album of the Year and Best Soundtrack album at the 44th Grammy Awards in February 2002.

Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch performed the song again for a May 24, 2000 concert at the Ryman Auditorium that featured many of the artists from the ''O Brother'' soundtrack. Film from the concert was used to create the 2000 documentary, ''Down from the Mountain''. Krauss and Welch's live performance is included as the final track on the ''Down from the Mountain'' soundtrack album, which sold over 500 thousand copies, won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album, and appeared on several of ''Billboard's'' charts.

Both the studio and live performances by Krauss and Welch were popular among folk music disk jockeys. The two recordings were ranked at No. 7 and No. 47 respectively on the Top Songs of 2001 Folk Radio airplay chart.

Jars of Clay

The Christian rock band Jars of Clay have recorded "I'll Fly Away" twice, first, for the 2004 various artists compilation album, ''WOW Worship: Red'' and again for their own 2005 album, ''Redemption Songs''. The latter features guest vocals by Sarah Kelly. ''Redemption Songs'' reached No. 1 on ''Billboard's'' Top Christian Albums chart and No. 71 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Their recording of the song was popular enough on Christian radio to be placed at No. 1 on a list of the Top Songs of 2005 by at least one station.

Alan Jackson

Alan Jackson included "I'll Fly Away" on his first ever gospel album, ''Precious Memories'' (2006). He offers an up-tempo performance with guitar and piano solos. Jackson's album sold over 1 million copies and reached the top position on ''Billboard's'' charts for Top Country Albums and Top Christian Albums, as well as No. 4 on the ''Billboard'' 200.

List of recordings

This will likely always be an incomplete list. The listings at Allmusic are in excess of 1000 entries. 1941 - Selah Jubilee Singers, single (Decca 7831)

1956 - Kossoy Sisters with Erik Darling on ''Bowling Green'' (re-released 1996, Rykodisc)

1961 - Carolyn Hester on ''Carolyn Hester'' (Columbia) [The song also featured Bob Dylan playing harmonica. It was during this session when John Hammond met Bob Dylan who later signed him to Columbia.]

1966 - The Dillards on ''Wheatstraw Suite'' (Elektra)

1968 - The Chambers Brothers on ''Groovin' Time'' (Folkways FW31008) [Performed as a medley "Rough and Rocky Road / I'll Fly Away"] 1972 - Andy Griffith on ''Somebody Bigger Than You and I'' (re-released 1996, Sony)

1972 - Plainsong on ''In Search of Amelia Earhart'' (Elektra)

1985 - Vern Gosdin on ''If Jesus Comes Tomorrow''

1995 - Crystal Gayle on ''Someday''

1997 - Aretha Franklin on ''Diana, Princess of Wales: Tribute''

1998 - Gary Chapman and Wynonna Judd on ''Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture 'The Apostle''' (Rising Tide)

2000 - Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch on ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?''

2001 - The Word on ''The Word Album''

2002 - Brenda Lee on ''Sweet Nothings''

2003 - Randy Travis on ''Worship & Faith''

2004 - Kanye West on ''The College Dropout''

2004 - Mark Klein on ''It's Just Me''

2004 - Johnny Cash on ''My Mother's Hymn Book''

2004 - The Dirty Dozen Brass Band on ''Funeral for a Friend''

2005 - Hot 8 Brass Band on ''Rock with the Hot 8''

2005 - Ralph Stanley on ''Shine On''

2005 - Jars of Clay on ''Redemption Songs'' (Essential)

2005 - Mississippi John Hurt on ''D.C. Blues: Library of Congress Recordings, Vol. 2'' [Recorded July 1963]

2006 - Alan Jackson on ''Precious Memories''

2006 - Avalon on ''Faith: A Hymns Collection''

2008 - The Blind Boys of Alabama on ''Down in New Orleans''

2008 - Castanets on ''City of Refuge''

2009 - All Angels on ''Fly Away''

2009 - Daniel O'Donnell on ''Peace in the Valley''

2011 - Preservation Hall Jazz Band and The Del McCoury Band on ''American Legacies''

Sampling lawsuit

"I'll Fly Away" was sampled without permission for the Grammy-winning song "I'll Be Missing You" recorded in 1997 by Puff Daddy and Faith Evans. In 2000, the songwriter's heirs, Albert E. Brumley & Sons, Inc. settled a copyright infringement suit filed against Arista Records, Faith Evans, Illegal Songs Inc., Chyna Baby Music, Janice Combs Publishing Inc., Magnetic Publishing Ltd. and Bad Boy Entertainment. In the settlement, the defendants acknowledged that Albert E. Brumley & Sons were the rightful copyright owners of "I'll Fly Away" and compensated them for an undisclosed amount.

In print

Hymnals and other church texts

''African American Heritage Hymnal'' (#601) ''Baptist Hymnal'', 2008 (#601) ''Celebration Hymnal'' (#779) ''The Faith We Sing'' (#2282) ''The New National Baptist Hymnal'' (#432), 1977 ''Sing the Faith: New Hymns for Presbyterians'' (#2282)

Other songbooks

''Wonderful Message'', Hartford Music Company, 1932 [This is the original publication of the song]

''The Bluegrass Picker's Tune Book'', Mel Bay Publications, 2006

Occurrences in film and television

The hymn appears on the soundtrack of Spike Lee's film ''When the Levees Broke''. An episode of the television series ''The Waltons'' included Jason singing this hymn numerous times. This hymn was played during the final scene of the final episode of the series ''7th Heaven''. It was played and sung by Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch. This hymn is played in ''The Apostle'' and is performed by Gary Chapman and Wynonna Judd on the soundtrack. The hymn is sung by mourners at a funeral in the film ''The Curious Case of Benjamin Button''. The first season finale of the ''HBO'' program ''Treme'' is named after the hymn, and it is performed at the end of the episode as part of a ''second line'' by the ''Treme Brass Band''.

References

Category:Christian hymns Category:1929 songs Category:American folklore Category:2005 singles Category:Jars of Clay songs

Fly Away or Flyaway may refer to:

Music

Albums

''Fly Away'' (Banaroo album), the 2007 last studio album by the German group Banaroo

''Fly Away'' (Corrinne May album), the 2001 first album by Corrinne May

''Fly Away'' (Paul Wright album), the 2003 debut album of Christian rapper Paul Wright

''Fly Away'' (Voyage album), a 1978 album by the disco group Voyage

''Flyaway'' (Nutshell album), a 1997 second album by Nutshell

Songs

"Fly Away" (John Denver song), a 1975 song written and performed by John Denver from the album ''Windsong''

"Fly Away" (Haddaway song), a 1995 song by Haddaway from the album ''The Drive''

"Fly Away" (Lenny Kravitz song), a 1998 song by Lenny Kravitz from the album ''5''

"Fly Away", a 1981 song by Blackfoot from the album ''Marauder''

"Fly Away", a 1987 song by Michael Jackson from the album ''Bad''

"Fly Away", a 1999 song by Cecilia from the album ''Inner Harmony''

"Fly Away", a 2002 song by Misia from the album ''Kiss in the Sky''

"Fly Away", a 2003 song by The Black Eyed Peas from the album ''Elephunk''

"Fly Away", a 2004 song by F.I.R. from the album ''F.I.R.-Fairyland in Reality''

"Fly Away", a 2004 song by Sugarland from the album ''Twice the Speed of Life''

"Fly Away", a 2005 song by Nelly from the soundtrack to the film ''The Longest Yard''

"Fly Away", a 2008 song by The Cheetah Girls from the soundtrack to the film ''The Cheetah Girls: One World''

"Fly Away", a 2010 song by TeddyLoid from the soundtrack of the TV series ''Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt''

"Fly Away", a 2011 song by Ariana Dvornik

"Fly Away", a song by Asami Izawa from the TV series ''Eureka Seven''

"Flyaway" (Nutshell song), a 1977 song by Nutshell from the album ''Flyaway''

"Last Dollar (Fly Away)", a 2007 song by Tim McGraw from the album ''Let it Go''

Other

''Flyaway'' (novel), a 1978 first-person narrative thriller novel by Desmond Bagley

''Fly Away'' (film), the 2011 family narrative film

FlyAway Bus, a shuttle bus service created and funded by Los Angeles World Airports

ja:Fly Away zh:Fly Away

name	Gillian Welch
alt	A slender, middle-aged woman with long brown hair plays guitar and sings into a microphone. She wears a cowboy hat and a red dress.
background	solo_singer
born	October 02, 1967 New York City, New York, U.S.
origin	New York, U.S. (born in); moved to LA, California with family; Nashville, Tennessee (currently resides)
instrument	singing, guitar, banjo, drums
genre	Bluegrass, Americana, rock
associated acts	Dave Rawlings Machine
website	gillianwelch.com
notable instruments	1956 Gibson J-50 }}

Gillian Welch (; born October 2, 1967) is an American singer-songwriter. She performs with her musical partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Their sparse and dark musical style, which combines elements of Appalachian music, Bluegrass, and Americana, is described by ''The New Yorker'' as "at once innovative and obliquely reminiscent of past rural forms".

Welch and Rawlings have released five critically acclaimed albums. Their 1996 debut, ''Revival'', and the 2001 release ''Time (The Revelator)'', received nominations for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Their 2003 album, ''Soul Journey'', introduced electric guitar, drums and a more upbeat sound to their body of work. After a gap of eight years, they released their fifth studio album, ''The Harrow & The Harvest'', in 2011.

Welch was an associate producer and performed on two songs of the ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' soundtrack, a platinum album that won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2002. Welch has collaborated and recorded with distinguished musicians such as Alison Krauss, Ryan Adams, Jay Farrar, Emmylou Harris, The Decemberists, and Ani DiFranco. Welch and Rawlings perform at many music festivals.

Early life

Gillian Howard Welch was born on October 2, 1967 in New York City, and was adopted by Ken and Mitzie Welch, comedy and music entertainers. Her biological mother was a freshman in college, and her father was a musician visiting New York City. Welch has speculated that her biological father could have been one of her favorite musicians, and she later discovered from her adoptive parents that he was a drummer. Alec Wilkinson of ''The New Yorker'' stated that "from an address they had been given, it appeared that her mother ... may have grown up in the mountains of North Carolina". When Welch was three, her adoptive parents moved to Los Angeles to write music for ''The Carol Burnett Show''. They also appeared on ''The Tonight Show''. As a youngster, Welch was introduced to the music of American folk singers Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, and the Carter Family. She performed folk songs with her peers at the Westland Elementary School in Los Angeles. Welch later attended Crossroads School, a high school in Santa Monica, California. While in high school, a local television program featured her as a student who "excelled at everything she did".

When a student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Welch played bass in a goth band, and drums in a psychedelic surf band. In college, a roommate played an album by the bluegrass band The Stanley Brothers, and she had an epiphany:

The first song came on and I just stood up and I kind of walked into the other room as if I was in a tractor beam and stood there in front of the stereo. It was just as powerful as the electric stuff, and it was songs I'd grown up singing. All of a sudden I'd found my music.

After graduating from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in photography, Welch attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she majored in songwriting. During her two years studying at Berklee, Welch gained confidence as a performer. Welch met her music partner David Rawlings at a successful audition for Berklee's only country band.

Career

Upon finishing college in 1992, Welch and Rawlings moved to Nashville, Tennessee. She recalled, "I looked at my record collection and saw that all the music I loved had been made in Nashville—Bill Monroe, Dylan, the Stanley Brothers, Neil Young—so I moved there. Not ever thinking I was thirty years too late." Rawlings soon followed. In Nashville, after singing "Long Black Veil", the two first realized that their voices harmonized well and they started to perform as a duo. They never considered using a working name, so the duo were simply billed as "Gillian Welch". A year after moving to Nashville, Welch found a manager, Denise Stiff, who already managed Alison Krauss. Both Welch and Stiff ignored frequent advice that Welch should stop playing with Rawlings and join a band. They eventually signed a recording contract with Almo Sounds. Following a performance opening for Peter Rowan at the Station Inn, producer T-Bone Burnett expressed interest in recording an album. Burnett did not plan to disturb Welch's and Rawlings' preference for minimal instrumentation, and Welch agreed to take him on as a producer.

''Revival''

For the recording sessions of Welch's debut, ''Revival'', Burnett wanted to recapture the bare sound of Welch's live performance. Welch recalled, "That first week was really intense. It was just T-Bone, the engineer, and Dave and myself. We got so inside our little world. There was very little distance between our singing and playing. The sound was very immediate. It was so light and small." Later, they recorded several more songs and played with an expanded group of musicians; guitarist and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee James Burton, bassist Roy Huskey, Jr., and veteran session drummers Jim Keltner, and Buddy Harman.

The album was released in April 1996 to positive reviews. Mark Deming of Allmusic called it a "superb debut" and wrote, "Welch's debts to artists of the past are obvious and clearly acknowledged, but there's a maturity, intelligence, and keen eye for detail in her songs you wouldn't expect from someone simply trying to ape the Carter Family." Bill Friskics-Warren of ''No Depression'' praised the album as "breathtakingly austere evocations of rural culture". The ''Chicago Daily Herald''s Mark Guarino observed that ''Revival'' was "cheered and scrutinized as a staunch revivalist of Depression-era music only because her originals sounded so much like that era." He attributed this to the biblical imagery of the lyrics, Burnett's threadbare production, and the plainly-sung bleakness in Welch's vocals. Ann Powers of ''Rolling Stone'' gave ''Revival'' a lukewarm review and criticized Welch for not singing of her own experiences, and "manufacturing emotion." Robert Christgau echoed Powers: Welch "just doesn't have the voice, eye, or way with words to bring her simulation off." ''Revival'' was nominated for the 1997 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, but lost to Bruce Springsteen's ''The Ghost of Tom Joad''.

''Hell Among The Yearlings''

The duo's 1998 ''Hell Among the Yearlings'' continued the rustic and dark themes; the songs' subject matter varies from a female character killing a rapist, a mining accident, a murder ballad, and an ode to morphine before death. Like ''Revival'', ''Hell Among The Yearlings'' featured a sparse style that focused on Rawlings and Welch's voices and guitars.

The album also received favorable reviews. Robert Wilonsky of the ''Dallas Observer'' observed that Welch "inhabits a role so completely, the fiction separating character and audience disappears". Thom Owens (Allmusic) stated that the album "lacks some of the focus" of ''Revival'', but is "a thoroughly satisfying second album" and proof that her debut was not a fluke. ''No Depression'''s Farnum Brown commended the live and "immediate feel" of the album, Welch's clawhammer banjo, and Rawlings' harmonies. Similar to ''Revival'', Welch was praised for reflecting influences such as the Stanley Brothers, but still managing to create an original sound, while Chris Herrington from Minneapolis's ''City Pages'' criticized the songs' lack of authenticity. He wrote "Welch doesn't write folk songs; she writes folk songs about writing folk songs."

''O Brother, Where Art Thou?''

Welch sang two songs and served as an associate producer for the Burnett-produced soundtrack to the 2000 film of the ''same name''. She shared vocals with Alison Krauss on a rendition of the gospel song "I'll Fly Away." Dave McKenna of ''The Washington Post'' praised their version: the singers "soar together." Burnett and Welch wrote additional lyrics for the song "Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby," sung by Welch, Emmylou Harris, and Krauss. The song is an elaboration of an old Mississippi tune discovered by Alan Lomax, and was nominated for the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. The platinum album won the 2002 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The surprise success of the soundtrack gave Welch a career boost. Welch also made a cameo appearance in the film.

''Time (The Revelator)''

When Universal Music Group purchased Almo Sounds, Welch began her own independent label, Acony Records (named for the Appalachian wildflower, Acony Bell, subject of the song "Acony Bell" on ''Revival''). Rawlings produced the first release on Welch's new label, the 2001 album ''Time (The Revelator)''. All but one song on the album was recorded in the historic RCA Studio B in Nashville. "I Want To Sing That Rock and Roll" was recorded live at the Ryman Auditorium in the recording sessions for the concert film ''Down from the Mountain''. Welch has said the album is about American history, rock 'n' roll, and country music. There are songs about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the Titanic Disaster, John Henry, and Elvis Presley. ''Time'' continues Welch and Rawlings' style of mellow and sparse arrangements. Welch explained, "As opposed to being little tiny folk songs or traditional songs, they're really tiny rock songs. They're just performed in this acoustic setting. In our heads we went electric without changing instruments."

''Time (The Revelator)'' received extensive critical praise, most of which focused on the evolution of lyrics from mountain ballads. For Michael Shannon Friedman of ''The Charleston Gazette'', "Welch's soul-piercing, backwoods quaver has always been a treasure, but on this record her songwriting is absolutely stunning." Critics compare the last track, the 15-minute "I Dream a Highway", to classics by Bob Dylan and Neil Young. Zac Johnson of Allmusic described ''I Dream...'' as akin to "sweetly dozing in the [river] current like Huck and Jim's Mississippi River afternoons". ''No Depression''s Grant Alden wrote, "Welch and Rawlings have gathered ... fragments from across the rich history of American music and reset them as small, subtle jewels adorning their own keenly observed, carefully constructed language." ''Time'' finished thirteenth in the 2001 ''Village Voice'' Pazz & Jop music critic poll. ''Time (The Revelator)'' appeared in best of decade lists of ''Rolling Stone'', ''Paste'', ''Uncut'', ''The Irish Times'', and the ''Ottawa Citizen''. The album was nominated for the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, but lost to Bob Dylan's ''Love and Theft''. ''Time'' peaked at #7 on the Billboard Independent Album chart.

''The Revelator Collection'' DVD was released in 2002. It featured live performances and music videos of songs from ''Time'', and some covers. The concert footage was filmed in 2001, and the music videos included Welch and Rawlings performing three songs at RCA Studio B. ''No Depression''s Barry Mazor praised the DVD as an accompaniment for ''Time'', calling it "one last exclamation point on that memorable and important project".

''Soul Journey''

For the 2003 release, ''Soul Journey'', Welch and Rawlings explored new territory. Welch said: "I wanted to make it a happier record. Out of our four records, I thought this might be the one where you're driving down the road listening to it on a sunny summer day." Rawlings again produced the record. The album also reflected a change in the typically sparse instrumentation: Welch and Rawlings introduced a dobro, violin, electric bass and drums, and Welch later said, "Everything's not supposed to sound the same, you want it to reflect change and growth."

In three songs of ''Soul Journey'', for the first time Welch and Rawlings recorded their own versions of traditional folk songs. On the original compositions, Welch's lyrics are more autobiographical than previous albums.

The album received mixed reviews. Allmusic's Zac Johnson wrote that it was "too casual and off-the-cuff", but called it a "wonderful, dusty summertime front-porch album, full of whiskey drawls and sly smiles, floorboard stomps and screen-door creaks". Jon Caramanica of ''Rolling Stone'' criticized the slower songs as stagnant, but complimented the upbeat songs. ''Soul Journey'' also garnered significant acclaim. John Harris of ''Mojo'' magazine described the album as "pretty much perfect", and ''Uncut''s Barney Hoskyns favorably compared it to Bob Dylan and The Band's ''The Basement Tapes''. Will Hermes of ''Entertainment Weekly'' wrote that Welch has "never sounded deeper, realer, or sexier." ''Soul Journey'' peaked at #107 on the Billboard charts, and reached #3 for Independent Albums.

Dave Rawlings Machine

Welch and Rawlings continued their partnership in the band Dave Rawlings Machine. Welch co-wrote five of the songs with Rawlings, and provided guitar and harmony vocals. Andy Gill of ''The Independent'' described the 2009 debut album ''A Friend of a Friend'' as "akin to one of Welch's albums, but with the balance of their harmonies swapped to favour Rawlings' voice". Although ostensibly Rawlings' first solo album, Alex Ramon of PopMatters noted the similarities to Welch albums. ''Paste Magazine''s Stephen Deusner praised ''A Friend of a Friend'' for incorporating "a wide swath of traditional American music," comments echoed by ''Rolling Stone''s Will Hermes and in the ''PopMatters'' piece.

The Harrow & The Harvest

In a 2007 feature in ''The Guardian'', critic John Harris expressed frustration that there had not been a Gillian Welch release in four years. Creation Records founder Alan McGee showed optimism about Welch and Rawlings testing out some new songs while opening some concerts for Rilo Kiley, and wrote in a 2009 blog entry "the long gestation period signals nothing less than a perfect album". In 2009, Rawlings said that recording for the next Gillian Welch album has started, but did not give a release date.

''The Harrow & The Harvest'' was released on June 28, 2011. Welch attributed the long time period between releases to writer's block and dissatisfaction with initial recording attempts. She explained: "Our songcraft slipped and I really don't know why. It's not uncommon. It's something that happens to writers. It's the deepest frustration we have come through, hence the album title." The writing process involved "this endless back and forth between the two of us," Welch said, stating that "It’s our most intertwined, co-authored, jointly-composed album."

The album received praise from publications such as ''The Los Angeles Times'', ''Uncut'', and'' Rolling Stone''. Thom Jurek of Allmusic wrote that the album "is stunning for its intimacy, its lack of studio artifice, its warmth and its timeless, if hard won, songcraft"..

The album peaked at #20 on the US Billboard 200 and #25 on the UK Albums Chart.

Musical style

Welch and Rawlings incorporate elements of early twentieth century music such as old time, classic country, gospel and traditional bluegrass with modern elements of rhythm and blues, rock 'n' roll, jazz, and punk rock. ''The New Yorker''s Alec Wilkinson maintained their musical style is "not easily classified—it is at once innovative and obliquely reminiscent of past rural forms". The instrumentation on their songs is usually a simple arrangement, with Welch and Rawlings accompanying their own vocals with acoustic guitars, banjos, or a mandolin. Welch plays rhythm guitar with a 1956 Gibson J-50 (or banjo), while Rawlings plays lead on a 1935 Epiphone Olympic Guitar. ''The New Yorker''s Wilkinson described Rawlings as a "strikingly inventive guitarist" who plays solos that are "daring melodic leaps". A review in ''No Depression'' by Andy Moore observed that "he [Rawlings] doesn't play his big, coffee-colored, hollow body Gibson so much as he squeezes, strokes, chokes and does just about everything but blow into it". Jamie Cowperthwait of ''Rolling Stone'' wrote that Rawlings' guitar playing "makes the music swell and vibrate at all the right moments."

Themes

Many songs performed by Welch and Rawlings contain dark themes about social outcasts struggling against such elements as poverty, drug addiction, death, a disconnection from their family, and an unresponsive God. Despite Welch being the lead singer, several of these characters are male. Welch has commented, "To be commercial, everybody wants happy love songs. People would flat-out ask me, 'Don't you have any happy love songs?' Well, as a matter of fact, I don't. I've got songs about orphans and morphine addicts." To reflect these themes, Welch and Rawlings often employ a slow pace to their songs. Their tempo is compared to a "slow heartbeat", and Cowperthwait of ''Rolling Stone'' observed that their songs "can lull you into near-hypnosis and then make your jaw drop with one final revelation".

Reception

Welch has received broad critical praise. Geoffrey Himes of ''The Washington Post'' described Welch as "one of the most interesting singer-songwriters of her generation". In 2003, Tom Kielty of ''The Boston Globe'' observed that she was "quietly establishing one of the most impressive catalogs in contemporary roots music", and a 2007 piece in ''The Guardian'' by John Harris called Welch "one of the decade's greatest talents". Critic Robert Hilburn of the ''Los Angeles Times'' wrote, "At every turn, she demonstrates a spark and commitment that should endear her to anyone from country and folk to pop and rock fans who appreciate imagination and heart."

When Welch's first two albums came out, critics questioned the authenticity of her music, as she was raised in Southern California, but performed Appalachian themed songs. For ''Revival'', Welch was criticized for "manufacturing emotion", and a review of ''Hell Among the Yearlings'' by Chris Herrington of ''City Pages'' stated, "Welch is someone who discovered old-time music in college and decided that her own sheltered life could never be worth writing about", and that she is "completely devoid of individuality". Other critics rejected the notion that her background affects the authenticity of her music. Music critic Mark Kemp defended Welch in a ''The New York Times'' piece:

The first-person protagonist of Ms. Welch’s song ("Caleb Meyer") may be a young girl from a time and place that Ms. Welch will never fully understand, but the feelings the singer expresses about rape, and the respect she displays for her chosen musical genre, are nothing if not poignantly authentic. Likewise, it matters not whether Ms. Welch has ever walked the streets of "the black dust towns of East Tennessee" about which she sings in "Miner's Refrain" because the sense of foreboding that she expresses for the men who once labored in coal mines with futile hopes of a better life comes through loud and clear.

''The Wall Street Journal'''s Taylor Holliday echoed this: "Stingy critics give Ms. Welch a hard time because she's a California city girl, not an Appalachian coal miner's daughter. But as Lucinda or Emmylou might attest, love of the music is not a birthright, but an earned right. Listen to Ms. Welch yodel, in a tune about that no-good "gal" Morphine, and you know she's as mountain as they come."

Influences and collaborations

Welch emphasizes music from a previous era as her major influence. She said that "by and large I listen to people who are dead. I'm really of the tried-and-true school. I let 50 years go by and see what's really relevant." Welch has acknowledged inspiration from several traditional country artists, including the Stanley Brothers, the Carter Family, the Louvin Brothers, and the Blue Sky Boys. She explained her relationship with traditional music by saying, "I've never tried to be traditional. It's been a springboard for me and I love it and revere it and would not be doing what I do without the music of the Monroe Brothers, the Stanley Brothers and the Carter Family. However, it was clear I was never going to be able to do exactly that; I'm a songwriter."

In addition to the strong country influence, Welch also draws on a repertoire of such Rock 'n' Roll artists as Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, Neil Young, the Grateful Dead and the Velvet Underground. She has noted alternative rock bands Throwing Muses, Pixies and Camper Van Beethoven "don't directly inform my music, but they're in there."

Welch has recorded songs with a variety of notable artists, including Ryan Adams, Ani DiFranco, Emmylou Harris, Jay Farrar, Alison Krauss, Old Crow Medicine Show, Bright Eyes, Robyn Hitchcock, Steve Earle, Ralph Stanley, The Decemberists, Solomon Burke and Mark Knopfler. Welch and Rawlings' contributions on Hitchcock's album ''Spooked'' was described by Christopher Bahn of ''The A.V. Club'' as "subtle but vital". Mark Deming of Allmusic wrote that their work on Ryan Adams' album ''Heartbreaker'' "brought out the best in Adams".

Artists who have recorded songs written by Welch include Jimmy Buffett, Alison Krauss and Union Station, Trisha Yearwood, Joan Baez, Allison Moorer, Emmylou Harris, and Kathy Mattea.

Performances

Welch and Rawlings have played many music festivals, including The Newport Folk Festival, Coachella Festival, The Telluride Bluegrass Festival, The Cambridge Folk Festival, MerleFest, The Austin City Limits Festival, and Farm Aid. They have toured North America extensively, and have played in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Concert reviews have praised the chemistry between Welch and Rawlings on stage. Tizzy Asher of the ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' wrote "there was a startling unspoken intimacy between them. They anticipated each other's movements and shifted when necessary to fit each other."

The Dave Rawlings Machine have toured North America, with the band composed of Rawlings, Welch and three members of Old Crow Medicine Show. Welch and Rawlings also participate in group tours with notable musicians. In 2004, they were part of the Sweet Harmony Traveling Revue, a three-week US tour with Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller and Emmylou Harris. In 2009, The Dave Rawlings Machine joined Old Crow Medicine Show, The Felice Brothers and Justin Townes Earle for The Big Surprise Tour, a US tour described as a "roots-music extravaganza". In 2011, it was announced that Welch would be opening a short tour for the newly reformed Buffalo Springfield.

Discography

1996 – ''Revival''

1998 – ''Hell Among the Yearlings''

2001 – ''Time (The Revelator)''

2003 – ''Soul Journey''

2011 - ''The Harrow & The Harvest''

Footnotes

References

External links

Official website

Category:1967 births Category:Living people Category:American female singers Category:American folk singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:Berklee College of Music alumni Category:American bluegrass musicians Category:Grammy Award winners Category:People from Nashville, Tennessee Category:People from New York City Category:University of California, Santa Cruz alumni Category:American adoptees Category:American female guitarists Category:People from Santa Monica, California

de:Gillian Welch fr:Gillian Welch he:גיליאן ולץ' simple:Gillian Welch sv:Gillian Welch

Name	Alison Krauss
Landscape	Yes
Background	solo_singer
Born	July 23, 1971Decatur, IllinoisUnited States
Occupation	Musician, Songwriter, Producer, Bandleader
Instrument	Vocals, Fiddle, Viola
Genre(s)	Bluegrass, Country, Adult Contemporary, R&B;
Years active	1984–present
Associated acts	Dan Tyminski, Robert Plant, John Waite, Rhonda Vincent, Dolly Parton, Brad Paisley, Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill, Jerry Douglas
Label	Rounder
Website	AlisonKrauss.com}}

Alison Krauss (born July 23, 1971) is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in 1987. She was invited to join the band with which she still performs, Alison Krauss and Union Station (AKUS), and later released her first album with them as a group in 1989.

She has released twelve albums, appeared on numerous soundtracks, and helped renew interest in bluegrass music in the United States. Her soundtrack performances have led to further popularity, including the ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' soundtrack, an album also credited with raising American interest in bluegrass, and the ''Cold Mountain'' soundtrack, which led to her performance at the 2004 Academy Awards. As of the 2011 Grammy Awards, she has won 26 Grammy Awards, making her the most awarded singer, the most awarded female artist, and tied for the third most awarded artist overall in Grammy history. At the time of her first award, at the 1991 Grammy Awards, she was the second youngest winner ever (currently tied as third youngest).

Biography

Alison Maria Krauss was born in Decatur, Illinois. Her parents are originally from Columbus, Mississippi. Krauss was raised in Champaign, Illinois. She began studying classical violin at age five but soon switched to bluegrass. Krauss said she first became involved with music because "[my] mother tried to find interesting things for me to do" and "wanted to get me involved in music, in addition to art and sports." At the age eight she started entering local talent contests, and at ten she had her own band. At 13 she won the Walnut Valley Festival Fiddle Championship, and the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass in America named her the Most Promising Fiddler in the Midwest. Krauss first met Dan Tyminski around 1984 at a festival held by the Society. Every current member of her band, Union Station, first met her at these festivals.

1985–1991: Early career

Krauss made her recording debut in 1985 on the independent album, ''Different Strokes'', featuring her brother Viktor, Swamp Weiss and Jim Hoiles. From the age of 12 she performed with bassist and songwriter John Pennell in a band called "Silver Rail". Pennell later formed Union Station, and Krauss joined at his invitation, replacing their previous fiddler Andrea Zonn. Pennell remains one of her favorite songwriters and wrote some of her early work including the popular "Every Time You Say Goodbye."

Later that year she signed to Rounder Records, and in 1987, at 16, she released her debut album ''Too Late to Cry'' with Union Station as her backup band.

Krauss' debut solo album was followed shortly by her first group album with Union Station in 1989 ''Two Highways''. The album includes the traditional tunes, Wild Bill Jones and Beaumont Rag, along with a bluegrass interpretation of The Allman Brothers' "Midnight Rider." Alison Krauss and Union Station would later perform at the 1989 Newport Folk Festival.

Krauss' contract with Rounder required her to alternate between releasing a solo album and an album with Union Station, and she released the solo album ''I've Got That Old Feeling'' in 1990. It was her first album to rise onto the Billboard charts, peaking in the top seventy-five on the country chart. The album also was a notable point in her career as she earned her first Grammy Award, the single "Steel Rails" was her first single tracked by Billboard, and the title single "I've Got That Old Feeling" was the first song for which she recorded a music video.

1992–1999: Rising success

{| Class=wikitable style="float:right;margin:0 0 0 1em;" |- !colspan=2|Alison Krauss & Union Station |- !align="center" valign="bottom"|Name !align="center" valign="bottom"|Role |- |Alison Krauss |Lead vocals, fiddle, viola |- |Larry Atamanuik |drums, Percussion |- |Barry Bales |Bass |- |Ron Block |Guitar, Banjo |- |Jerry Douglas |Dobro |- |Dan Tyminski |Guitar, Mandolin |- |} Krauss' second Union Station album ''Everytime You Say Goodbye'' was released in 1992, and she went on to win her second Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album of the year. She then joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1993 at the age of 21. She was the youngest cast member at the time, and the first bluegrass artist to join the Opry in twenty-nine years. She also collaborated on a project with the Cox Family in 1994, a bluegrass album called ''I Know Who Holds Tomorrow''. Mandolin and guitar player Dan Tyminski replaced Tim Stafford in Union Station in 1994. Late in the year, Krauss recorded with the band Shenandoah on its single "Somewhere in the Vicinity of the Heart," which brought her to the country music Top Ten for the first time. Also in 1994, Krauss collaborated with Suzy Bogguss, Kathy Mattea, and Crosby, Stills, and Nash to contribute "Teach Your Children" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization. In 1997, she recorded vocals and violin for "Half a Mind," on Tommy Shaw's 7 Deadly Zens album.

''Now That I've Found You: A Collection'', a compilation of older releases and some covers of her favorite works by other artists, was released in 1995. Some of these covers include Bad Company's "Oh Atlanta," The Foundations' "Baby, Now That I've Found You," which was used in the Australian hit comedy movie ''The Castle'', and The Beatles' "I Will." A cover of Keith Whitley's "When You Say Nothing at All" reached the top five on the Billboard country chart; the album peaked in the top fifteen on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart, and sold two million copies to become Krauss' first double-platinum album. Krauss also was nominated for four Country Music Association Awards and won all of them.

''So Long So Wrong'', another Union Station album, was released in 1997 and won the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album. One critic said its sound was "rather untraditional" and "likely [to] change quite a few . . . minds about bluegrass." Included on the album is the track "It Doesn't Matter," which was featured in the second season premiere episode of ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and was included on the ''Buffy'' soundtrack in 1999.

Her next solo release in 1999, ''Forget About It'', included one of her two tracks to appear on the Billboard adult contemporary chart, "Stay." The album was certified gold, and charted within the top seventy-five of the Billboard 200 and in the top five of the country chart. In addition, the track "That Kind of Love" was included in another episode of ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer.''

2000–present: Current career

Adam Steffey left Union Station in 1998, and was replaced with renowned Dobro player Jerry Douglas. Douglas had provided studio back-up to Krauss's records since 1987's ''Too Late To Cry''. Their next album, ''New Favorite'', was released on August 14, 2001. The album went on to win the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album, with the single "The Lucky One" winning a Grammy as well. ''New Favorite'' was followed up by the double platinum double album ''Live'' in 2002 and a release of a DVD of the same live performance in 2003. Both the album and the DVD were recorded during a performance at The Louisville Palace and both the album and DVD have been certified double Platinum. Also in 2002 she played a singing voice for one of the characters in "Eight Crazy Nights"

''Lonely Runs Both Ways'' was released in 2004, and eventually became another Alison Krauss & Union Station gold certified album. Ron Block described ''Lonely Runs Both Ways'' as "pretty much... what we've always done" in terms of song selection and the style in which those songs were recorded. Krauss believes the group "was probably the most unprepared we've ever been" for the album and that songs were chosen as needed rather than planned beforehand. She also performed a duet with Brad Paisley on his album ''Mud on the Tires'' in the single "Whiskey Lullaby." The single was quickly ranked in the top fifty of the Billboard Hot 100 and the top five of the Hot Country Songs, and won the Country Music Association Awards for "Best Musical Event" and "Best Music Video" of the year.

Krauss recorded a collaborative album, ''Raising Sand'' with Robert Plant in 2007 which would ultimately be RIAA certified platinum. ''Raising Sand'' was nominated for and won 5 Grammys at the 51st Grammy Awards including Album of the Year, Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album, and Record of the Year ("Please Read the Letter"). Krauss and Plant recorded a Crossroads special in October 2007 for the Country Music Television network which first aired on February 12, 2008. The pair are currently working on a new album. Alison Krauss has announced a new album release called ''Paper Airplane'' with Union Station on April 12, 2011, the follow-up album to "Lonely Runs Both Ways" (2004)

Other work

Krauss has made multiple guest appearances on other records with lead vocals, harmony vocals, or fiddle playing. In 1993 she recorded vocals for the Phish song "If I Could" in Los Angeles. In 1997 she contributed harmony vocals in both English and Irish to Irish traditional band Altan's ''Runaway Sunday'' album. She has contributed to numerous motion picture soundtracks, most notably the soundtrack ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' in 2000. She and co-vocalist Dan Tyminski contributed multiple tracks to the soundtrack, including "I'll Fly Away" (with Gillian Welch), "Down to the River to Pray", and "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow." She also makes a guest appearance on Heart's March 2010 concert DVD Night At Sky Church, providing the lead vocals for the song These Dreams.

In the film, Tyminski's vocals on "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow" were used for George Clooney's character. The soundtrack sold over seven million copies and won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 2002. The unexpected success of the album has been partially credited, as was Krauss herself, with bringing a new interest in bluegrass to the United States. She has said, however, that she believes Americans already liked bluegrass and other less-heard musical genres, and that the film merely provided easy exposure to the music. She did not appear in the movie, at her own request, as she was nine months pregnant during its filming.

In 2007, Krauss released the anthology ''A Hundred Miles Or More: A Collection'' which was a collection of soundtrack work, duets with artists such as John Waite, James Taylor, Brad Paisley and esteemed fiddle player Natalie MacMaster, and newer tracks. The album was very commercially successful, but was received with a lukewarm reception from critics. One of the tracks, "Missing You", a duet with Waite (and a cover of his hit single from 1984), was similarly received as a single. On August 11, television network Great American Country aired a one-hour special, "Alison Krauss: A Hundred Miles or More" based on the album and featured many of the album's duets and solo performances.

Other soundtracks for which Krauss has performed include ''Twister'', ''The Prince of Egypt'', ''Eight Crazy Nights'', ''Mona Lisa Smile'', ''Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood'', ''Alias'', ''Bambi II'' and ''Cold Mountain''. She also contributed the song "Jubilee" to the 2004 documentary ''Paper Clips''. The ''Cold Mountain'' songs "The Scarlet Tide" by T-Bone Burnett and Elvis Costello, and "You Will Be My Ain True Love", by herself and Sting were nominated for an Academy Award, and she performed both songs at the 76th Academy Awards, the first with Costello and Burnett and the other with Sting. She also worked as a producer for Nickel Creek on their debut self-titled album in 2000 and the follow-up ''This Side'' in 2002, which won Krauss her first Grammy as a music producer.

Reception and influences

Krauss's earliest musical experience was as an instrumentalist, though her style has grown to focus more on her vocals with a band providing most of the instrumentation. Musicians she enjoys include Lou Gramm of Foreigner and Paul Rodgers of Bad Company. Krauss' family listened to "folk records" while she was growing up, but she had friends who exposed her to groups such as AC/DC, Carly Simon, The Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and ELO. She cites Dolly Parton, with whom she has since collaborated a number of times, as a major influence. Some credit Krauss and Union Station, at least partially, with a recent revival of interest in bluegrass music in the United States. Despite being together for nearly two decades and winning numerous awards, she said the group was "just beginning right now" (in 2002) because "in spite of all the great things that have happened for the band, [she] feel[s] musically it's just really beginning." Although she alternates between solo releases and works with the band, she has said there is no difference in her involvement between the two. and "the tightest band around." While they have been successful as a group, many reviews note Krauss still "remains the undisputed star and rock-solid foundation" and have described her as the "band's focus" with an "angelic" voice that "flows like honey". Her work has been compared to that of The Cox Family, Bill Monroe, and Del McCoury, and has in turn been credited with influencing various "Newgrass" artists including Nickel Creek, for which she acted as record producer on two of their albums. In addition to her work with Nickel Creek, she has acted as producer to the Cox Family, Reba McEntire and Alan Jackson. Adam Sweeting of ''The Guardian'' has said Krauss and Union Station are "superb when they stick to hoedowns and hillbilly music, but much less convincing when they lurch towards the middle of the road," and ''Blender magazine'' has said the "flavorless repertoire [Krauss] sings... steers her toward Lite FM". In addition, ''Q'' magazine and ''The Onion'' AV Club have said their newer releases are "pretty much the usual," and that although Krauss is generally "adventurous," these recent releases contain nothing to "alienate the masses".

Voice, themes, and musical style

Krauss's vocal range could generally be described as mezzo soprano with little to no vibrato: her clear vocals have been described as "angelic". She has said her musical influences include J. D. Crowe, Ricky Skaggs, and Tony Rice. Many of her songs are described as sad, and are often about love, especially lost love. Krauss herself has said of her song selection that she looks for "tunes that [she] can relate to". Though she has a close involvement with her group and a long career in music, she rarely performs music she has written herself. She has also described her general approach to constructing an album as starting with a single song and selecting other tracks based on the first, to give the final album a somewhat consistent theme and mood. She most commonly performs in the bluegrass and country genres, though she has had two songs on the adult contemporary charts, has worked with rock artists such as Phish and Sting, and is sometimes said to stray into pop music.

Music videos

Krauss did not think she would make music videos at the beginning of her career, and after recording her first she was convinced it was so bad that she would never do another. Nonetheless, she has gone on to make further videos. Many of the first videos she saw were by bluegrass artists, although Dan Tyminski has noted that the video for ''Thriller'' was very popular at the time she was first exposed to music videos. She has made suggestions on the style or theme to some videos, though she tends to leave such decisions up to the director of the particular video. The group chooses directors by seeking out people who have previously directed videos bandmembers have enjoyed. The director for a video to "If I Didn't Know Any Better" from ''Lonely Runs Both Ways'', for example, was selected because Krauss enjoyed work he had done with Def Leppard, and she wondered what he could do with their music. While style decisions are generally left to the various directors of the videos, many —including for "The Lucky One", "Restless", "Goodbye is All We Have", "New Favorite", and "If I Didn't Know Any Better"—follow a pattern. In all of these videos Krauss walks, sometimes interacting with other people, while the rest of the band follows her.

Performances

Krauss has said she used to dislike working in the studio where she had to play the same song repeatedly, but has come to like studio work roughly the same as live stage performances. Her own favorite concert experiences include watching three Foreigner concerts during a single tour, a Dolly Parton concert, and a Larry Sparks concert. She appeared on ''Austin City Limits'' in 1992 and opened the show in 1995 with Union Station. The ''New Favorite'' tour, after AKUS' album of the same name, was planned to start September 12, 2001 in Cincinnati, Ohio, but was delayed until September 28 in Savannah, Georgia following the September 11 terrorist attacks Krauss also took part in the ''Down from the Mountain'' tour in 2002, which featured many artists from the ''O Brother, Where Art Thou''. ''Down from the Mountain'' was followed by the ''Great High Mountain Tour'', which was composed of musicians from both ''O Brother'' and ''Cold Mountain'', including Krauss. She has also given several notable smaller performances including at Carnegie Hall (with the Grand Ole Opry), on Lifetime Television in a concert of female performers, on the radio show ''A Prairie Home Companion'' where she sang two songs not previously recorded on any of her albums, and a performance at the White House attended by then-President Bill Clinton and then-Vice President Al Gore.

Awards

Alison Krauss has won a record twenty-six Grammy Awards over the course of her career as a solo artist, as a group with Union Station, as a duet with Robert Plant, and as a record producer. This is more than any other female artist and is the third most won by any artist overall. She overtook Aretha Franklin for the most female wins at the 46th Grammy Awards where Krauss won three, bringing her total at the time to seventeen (Franklin won her sixteenth that night). The Recording Academy (which presents the Grammy Awards) presented her with a special musical achievement honor in 2005. She has also won 14 International Bluegrass Music Association Awards, 8 Country Music Association Awards, 2 Gospel Music Association Awards, 2 CMT Music Awards, 2 Academy of Country Music Awards, and 1 Canadian Country Music Award. Country Music Television ranked Krauss 12th on their "40 Greatest Women of Country Music" list in 2002.

At the 76th Academy Awards in February 2004, where she performed two nominated songs from the ''Cold Mountain'' soundtrack, Alison Krauss was chosen by Hollywood shoe designer Stuart Weitzman to wear a pair of $2 million 'Cinderella' sandals with 4½ inch clear glass stiletto heels and two straps adorned with 565 Kwiat diamonds set in platinum. Feeling like a rather unglamorous choice, Krauss said, "When I first heard, I was like, 'What were they thinking?' I have the worst feet of anybody who will be there that night!" In addition to the fairy-tale-inspired shoes, Weitzman outfitted Krauss with a Palm Trēo 600 smartphone, bejeweled with 3,000 clear-and-topaz-colored Swarovski crystals. The shoes were returned, but Krauss kept the crystal-covered phone. Weitzman chose Krauss to show off his fashions at the urging of his daughters, who are fans of Krauss' music.

Discography

1985: ''Different Strokes''

1987: ''Too Late to Cry''

1989: ''Two Highways''

1990: ''I've Got That Old Feeling''

1992: ''Every Time You Say Goodbye''

1994: ''I Know Who Holds Tomorrow''

1997: ''So Long So Wrong''

1999: ''Forget About It''

2001: ''New Favorite''

2002 "Live"

2004: ''Lonely Runs Both Ways''

2007: ''Raising Sand''

2011: ''Paper Airplane''

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1997	''Annabelle's Wish''	Additional Voices	UncreditedVoice only
2002	''Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights''	Jennifer	Voice only
Television
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1991	''Hee Haw''	Herself	1 episodeEpisode: #22.21
1996	''Austin City Limits''	Herself	5 episodes, 1996–2005
1997	''Miracle on Highway 31''	Herself	TV movie
2005	''Sesame Street''	Herself	1 episodeEpisode: "American Fruit Stand"
2006	''CMT Cross Country''	Performer	with Vince Gill
2008	''CMT Crossroads''	Performer	with Robert Plant

References

External links

Official site

Rounder Records site for Alison Krauss

[ Alison Krauss] on Allmusic database

Category:1971 births Category:Living people Category:Alison Krauss & Union Station members Category:American bluegrass fiddlers Category:American country singers Category:American female singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:American Christians Category:People from Decatur, Illinois Category:People from Champaign, Illinois Category:Musicians from Illinois Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:American people of Native American descent Category:American musicians of French descent Category:American people of English descent Category:American performers of Christian music Category:Rounder Records artists

ar:أليسون كروس br:Alison Krauss ca:Alison Krauss cs:Alison Krauss da:Alison Krauss de:Alison Krauss es:Alison Krauss fr:Alison Krauss gd:Alison Krauss id:Alison Krauss it:Alison Krauss he:אליסון קראוס lv:Elisona Krausa nl:Alison Krauss no:Alison Krauss nn:Alison Krauss pl:Alison Krauss pt:Alison Krauss ru:Краусс, Элисон simple:Alison Krauss fi:Alison Krauss sv:Alison Krauss th:อลิสัน เคราส์ vi:Alison Krauss zh:艾莉森·克勞絲

name	Kossoy Sisters
background	group_or_band
birth date	May 11, 1938
birth place	New York City, NY, U.S.
origin	Greenwich Village, New York City
instrument	Vocal
genre	Folk
years active	1956 - 1960s, 1981, 2002–2003
associated acts	Erik Darling
website	KossoySisters.com
current members	Irene Saletan, Ellen Christenson (born Irene and Ellen Kossoy) }}

The Kossoy Sisters, Irene Saletan and Ellen Christenson, are an American folk and old time music act based around the identical twin sisters Irene Saletan and Ellen Christenson. In their music, Irene sings mezzo soprano vocal, and Ellen supplies soprano harmony, with Irene on guitar and Ellen playing the 5-string banjo in a traditional up-picking technique. Their performances are notable examples of close harmonies singing. They began performing professionally in their mid teens and are esteemed as a significant part of the popular folk music movement that started in the mid 1950s.

The sisters were born on May 11, 1938 in New York City, USA. The twins began singing together at about the age of six, in imitation of harmonies created in the home by their mother and aunt. At fifteen they attended a summer camp at which Pete Seeger and other well known folk singers often performed, and they developed a lifelong attachment to the genre. They quickly discovered the bustling folk music scene in the Greenwich Village section of New York City and mingled with the people who congregated in Washington Square Park.

When they were seventeen, they recorded the album ''Bowling Green'' which features the sisters' close harmonies and accompaniment by Erik Darling. The duo were introduced to a new audience when their version of "I'll Fly Away" from this album was used in the film ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?''.

They performed in the first Newport Folk Festival in 1959. They also were in the original stage production of Woody Guthrie's "Bound for Glory" and at the Fox Hollow Folk Festival in Petersburgh, NY. They toured California in 1981 and have appeared in the Boston area, Washington DC, New York Pinewood Camp, various venues in the St. Louis area and numerous other locations.

A second CD, "Hop on Pretty Girls," appeared in 2002 on the Living Folk label. A non-commercial CD, "Kossoy Sisters," is available from Public Radio Station WBUR in Boston. It is a recording of an interview with the twins on February 23, 2003, during their promotional tour for "Hop on Pretty Girls."

Irene and Ellen attended local schools in New York and went on to graduate from Blackburn College in Carlinville, Illinois. Soon after completion of their formal studies, the sisters married. Ellen moved to St. Louis and Irene settled in the Boston area. Irene and her husband Anthony D. Saletan performed together for some time as Tony and Irene Saletan. They released an album themselves, ''Folk Songs and Ballads,'' in 1970 on Folk-Legacy Records. Over the years the sisters have continued to perform live while also immersing themselves in the responsibilities of family life. Ellen has a son and a daughter, and Irene has a son and a daughter.

Discography

''Bowling Green'', Tradition 1956 (rerelased by Rykodisc in 1996, Released as part of the three disc set "The Best of the Bluegrass Tradition.)

''Hop on Pretty Girls'', Living Folk 2002

''Kossoy Sisters'', Recording of an interview from the National Public Radio program "On Point", February 23, 2003

''Banjo Music of the Southern Appalachians'', Erik Darling (The Kossoy Sisters appear on this record).

''Instrumental Music and Songs of Southern Appalachians'', Erik Darling (The last ten tracks of this CD, all sung by the Kossoy Sisters, appear to be copied from ''Banjo Music of the Southern Appalachians'').

See also

O Kossoy Sisters Where Art Thou Been?, countrystandardtime.com Retrieved June 18, 2008

Kossoy Sisters.com, Official Website Retrieved on June 18, 2008

Notes

Category:Living people Category:1938 births Category:American female singers Category:American folk singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:Folk musicians from Chicago, Illinois Category:Old Town School of Folk musicians Category:Family musical groups