Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Sunday night we made our way to the Idaho Center and took in the Alison Krauss and Union Station concert.

Wow.

I have always had a thing for Alison Krauss' voice - she has one of those pure, Celtic-style voices that float ethereally across the room. She is surrounded by people who I would go see as solo performers - Dan Tyminski (best known as George Clooney's singing voice in 'Oh Brother Where Art Thou'), Ron Block (who writes some of the loveliest gospel songs to come out of bluegrass), and Jerry Douglas (a mean Dobro player who was featured in a short solo set.) Add Barry Bales as an outstanding fretless bass man, and *can't remember the drummer's name except for 'Larry', but he was good, LOL* and you have a level of musicianship that is astounding. After more than a decade of playing together, these guys are so tight it is scary.

What I didn't expect is for Alison Krauss to be so goofy. Whoodathunk?

Anyways, the whole show was awesome. What really got me was the encore, though - most bands seem to save one of their big hits for that, and pull out all the stops. Here, they took away the mics and replaced them with two old-style radio microphones. Then the whole band unplugged, so the only sound you got was what the microphones picked up, putting the voices front and center. They then launched into an a capella "Down To the River to Pray" and then played a soft, subdued version of one of Ron Block's gospel tunes, "Living Prayer". It was the perfect way to end the evening.


In your love I find release
A haven from my unbelief
Take my life and let me be
A living prayer my God to thee

posted by Birgit
0 comments at 8:38 AM