Album: Forget About It
Artist: Alison Krauss
Year: 1999

1. Stay
2. Forget About It
3. It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference
4. Maybe
5. Empty Hearts
6. Never Got Off the Ground
7. Ghost in This House
8. It Don’t Matter Now
9. That Kind of Love
10. Could You Lie
11. Dreaming My Dreams With You

I remember my first migraine. I was about 21 or so and I was driving home and thought it was just a regular headache, but it got so bad that I could barely open my eyes without it feeling like daggers were piercing through my skull. I tried to make myself dinner but half-way through nearly vomited. So I took some Excedrin, drank some water, turned off all the lights, and popped in my dad’s CD of Forget About It. Within twenty minutes, my migraine was gone.

Alison’s voice is angelic here, and it’s obvious within seconds. Stay and Forget About It are an amazing one-two punch. Annoyingly, the third song is a flop in lyric and tone, but she redeems herself with Maybe, my favorite song of hers. The rest of the album is less impressive, especially musically, but it remains very relaxing throughout. Could You Lie is my next favorite, with Never Got Off the Ground and It Don’t Matter Now also solid.

Album: New Favorite
Artist: Alison Krauss & Union Station
Year: 2001

1. Let Me Touch You For A While
2. The Boy Who Wouldn’t Hoe Corn (US)
3. The Lucky One
4. Choctaw Hayride (US)
5. Crazy Faith
6. Momma Cried (US)
7. I’m Gone
8. Daylight
9. Bright Sunny South (US)
10. Stars
11. It All Comes Down To You (US)
12. Take Me For Longing
13. New Favorite

Alison Krauss has been a Grammy darling, but her album with Robert Plant notwithstanding, has gotten virtually no love on the charts. Perhaps it’s because bluegrass really doesn’t have a home on the radio, as it straddles both country and adult contemporary. What I do know is that her stuff is better than most of the crap currently on country radio.

New Favorite starts out with an incredible song in Let Me Touch You For A While, probably my favorite by her. We then start the yo-yo between Alison and Dan Tyminski, the lead singer for Union Station. He’s a decent singer, best known for Man of Constant Sorrow, but it’s awkward constantly switching leads on this album. Part of it is that their voices are different, but the general tone of each song swings as well. Alison’s songs, with the exception of Take Me for Longing, feel like pure solos and sound more like contemporary country than bluegrass. Union Station’s songs are pure bluegrass, backed by mandolins, banjos, dobros, and lap steels. It’s jarring, for sure. Especially since the album’s second song is…well, I just don’t care about this boy who wouldn’t hoe corn.

It rebounds quickly with The Lucky One, and the rest of the album remains solid, if unspectacular. Choctaw Hayride is pure instrumental, Union Station at their best. Crazy Faith and New Favorite are also highlights, helping this album round out into one of my favorites.