Alison Krauss has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1993, was the first bluegrass artist in 29 years to be inducted, and was the youngest Opry cast member at the time of her induction. She learned violin at age 5, started fiddling at age 8, recorded her first album at age 14, and by age 18, earned her first Grammy nomination.
This voice will be back on the 650 AM WSM airwaves and the Opry stage for three shows this weekend – one on Friday night and two on Saturday night. She’ll share the stage with fellow Opry members and guests artists like Brad Paisley, Charlie Daniels Band, Luke Bryan, Keith Urban, Mel Tillis, Cannan Smith, and more. Click here to purchase tickets to what Alison says are “two of my favorite things – weekends and the Grand Ole Opry.”
Alison talked with us backstage at a previous Opry performance about coming back together to record her most recent album, Paper Airplane, and about one of the Top 3 moments in her musical career – lunch with Charlie Louvin.
“Everybody kind of goes their own way when we’re not working,” Alison said of getting back together with Union Station to record their latest album. “But at that time in the studio, it had been seven years since we had done a whole album together, which I couldn’t believe it had been that long. It was strange some of the obstacles that came up that hadn’t been there before. When you go off and do other projects where you’re kind of part of somebody else’s vision, it’s hard to step into the group again. There were some hurdles that hadn’t been there before and we had to get back to where we were. It all worked out, and I think for those struggles, you end up with something interesting.”
Alison Krauss and Union Station’s album Paper Airplane is a 12-track record of emotional power.
“You have new life within the record,” Alison said. “I always find that the most interesting work I do is with these guys because it’s always the same people. But with that, all of the people are changing as we get older, and things turn a different way and things might move a little to the left and then to the right as far as where the album is going to go. It was an interesting process, and I think it does have a new identity.”
Right around the time the album was being recorded, Alison reflected on one of the top moments of her musical career. Charlie Lovin was one of the most influential musicians of the ’40s and ’50s and as one half of the Louvin Brothers, defined close harmony duets for several generations of country music artists and fans. Alison Krauss is one of those artists.
“There would be songs growing up that I love and then I would be reciting the lyrics to them and say ‘this one made me think about this, or this one defined my beliefs on this, or this one is what I daydreamed about,’” Alison said. “They were the songs that kept coming up. I didn’t pay attention to songwriters when I was younger, and as I got older I wanted to know who that was and where they came from and what they were thinking about and nine times out of ten, Charlie Louvin wrote those songs. I thought, ‘who is that man who could touch me like that – that would have such an impact on me.’ I had no idea that he had written all of these things and really defined my ideals of what I would picture in my mind when I sing. They were the pictures that he created with the songs that he wrote.”
Click play below to hear Alison’s story of when she got to have lunch with him, what he talked about, and how it was a moment she will never forget.
Alison has had quite the career, and we’re always excited to welcome her back on the Opry stage. Click here to tune in this weekend. Until then, here are a couple of videos of Alison on the Opry.
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