Customer Reviews

So Long So Wrong

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ever since Elvis began his famed recording career with a Rockabilly cover of Bluegrass Bossman Bill Monroe's signature "Blue Moon of Kentucky" Bluegrass has been regarded by *some* as the poor barefoot hayseed step-child of Country Music. Acoustic Guitars and Banjos and Fiddles were overwhelmed and swallowed up by Electric Guitars and Peddle Steel Guitars. A successful Bluegrass album sold maybe 30,000. The "dirty little secret" in Nashville was that the Bluegrass musicians were the ones who could really PLAY, so talented bluegrassers who wanted to make a decent living became Nashville studio musicians. Bluegrass fans, who are often as fanatical about the music as a religious zealot is about their religion, considered such musicians to have "sold out", and so it was that artists like Ricky Skaggs, Bill Keith, Marty Stuart and Vince Gill were considered. Once big fish in the small Bluegrass pond, they were thought by Bluegrass Purists to have compromised their artistic integrity to become Country successes. (Was it ironic that Ricky Skagg's first Country Hit was a "countrified" version of Lester Flatt's "Don't Get Above Your Raisin'?")

The purpose of this review isn't to give even a thumbnail history lesson of the evolution of Bluegrass and a comparison to more popular and "mainstream" forms of music, but it is important in having a complete appreciation of this album to recognize the historical rarity of a "popular" or "breakout" Bluegrass artist or band or recording. In the past half-century before Alison Krauss the number of Bluegrass recordings which received any degree of popular airplay could be easily counted on one hand:
Flatt and Scruggs "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" - the music used as the musical theme to "Bonnie and Clyde".
Flatt and Scruggs "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" - the theme to "Beverly Hillbillies"
"Dueling Banjos" - from the soundtrack to "Deliverance"
"Rocky Top" - by the Osborne Brothers
"Fox on the Run" - by the Country Gentlemen

Then along came Alison Krauss, with her stunning crystalline voice that caught the attention of the Bluegrass community while she was still a teenager.

She recorded several albums which were among the most well-received in the Bluegrass community leading up to 1995 when her label, Rounder, persuaded her to put together a few new recordings with mostly previous releases, some as "guest star" on other CDs to come up with the compilation "Now That I've Found You"(It may have been called "Greatest Hits" for an artist that had HAD a "hit").

That CD stunned everyone, sold 6 million copies and suddenly Alison Krauss was the hottest female voice in Nashville - winning a handful of CMA awards.

Under the expectations of THAT success Ms. Krauss and her band, Union Station, went to the studio to record the follow-up album.

Many on either side of the "Bluegrass Purist" fence were expecting the next CD to be the "Sell-Out" CD - full of steel guitars and guest duets with Barbra Streisand.

What came instead was THIS CD, "So Long So Wrong", an album that celebrates the Bluegrass heritage that these musicians hail from in addition to showcasing the extraordinary contemporary talents of Alison and Union Station.

Newcomers to Bluegrass expecting a recording with nothing but Alison's voice were likely put out a little that some GUY was singing the lead vocal on several of these cuts. Alison knew that Dan Tyminsky was an extraordinary vocalist YEARS before Dan was chosen to do the singing voiceover for George Clooney in "O Brother Where Art Thou?"

The CD is one of the prominent ones that Alison jokes about in which her lead vocals are predominantly on beautiful but sorrowful ballads like "Deeper Than Crying" and "Find My Way Back to my Heart." These tracks are beautiful and they're NOT "straight bluegrass" for you purists - Ron Block trades in his trusty 5-string for some tasty acoustic guitar work and these are closer to folk or even just "unplugged pop" than to bluegrass. The Dan Tyminski tracks are rollicking rip-roaring bluegrass monsters like "I'll Remember You, Love in my Prayers" and "The Road is a Lover".

This CD is one of the very best by Alison Krauss and Union Station, and that is saying something. If you're a fan of Alison, or maybe you just heard something about "those musicians on the O Brother soundtrack" this is a recording you just have to add to your collection.

If you like New Grass or folk, spirited American acoustic, banjo and fiddle, you'll like Alison Krauss. If you don't have anything by her yet, So Long So Wrong is the album to get. I've listened extensively to her albums, and I rate this one the best so far. Excellent selection of melodic numbers. She's never sung better. Her musicians are in very top form.

An outstanding set.

Alison Krauss and her Union Station bandmates do a fine job on So Long, So Wrong. Alison's singing and fiddle playing dominate, especially on the ballads "Looking In The Eyes Of Love", "I Can Let Go Now", "Deeper Than Crying", "It Doesn't Matter", "Happiness" and "There Is A Reason". However, Union Station's guitarist, Dan Tyminski, who sings lead on "No Place To Hide", "The Road Is A Lover", and "Blue Trail Of Sorrow", also is a strong singer. Furthermore, Adam Steffey(mandolin), Ron Block(banjo and guitar), and Barry Bales(acoustic bass), the remaining Union Station members, really shine on this one. The instrumental "Little Liza Jane", on which all the band members get into the act, is a driving bluegrass tune. There's no percussion anywhere on the record, but thanks to Barry's thumping bass lines, the songs have a rhythmic, flowing feel to them, which more than makes up for the lack of a drumbeat. There aren't any musical gimmicks here, but there is a great bluegrass and folk sound. So Long, So Wrong is a fine collection of songs from a truly talented group of singers and musicians.

Alison Krauss is my new favortie artist. She voice is so captivating, I want to listen to it over and over.

This CD is fantastic! Both vocals and instrumentals shine. Its probably oversaid but you won't regret buying this one. Believe me.

Argue all you want about genres and "keep faithful to bluegrass" - I don't care about any of that. Diana Krall gets critized all the time for "crossing over". In this case Alison Krauss sings to me, with all her heart. And I for one don't care what she songs- just how.

I love every song, the bluegrass ones and the others; but one in particular is the best song I have ever heard:
"It Doesn't Matter".

This is so pure, just Alison and maybe two guitars, it is stunning! The sonics and sound quality are absolutely top notch but Alison's emotions come through so strongly it brings tears to my eyes.

Not often I am so moved by a song.

Alsion Krausss obviously has high values and it shows throughout her productions which are some of the best in the music industry. I review audio equipment for a magazine and her music stands up to megabuck systems but you will enjoy them on anything down to a boombox!

I own it. Overall, it's one of my favorite discs (I have a few hundred). I've played the hell out of it.

You don't have to like country or bluegrass to like it - the music is just real good.

It's a couple of years old, but you should get it as soon as you can.

Enjoy.

This was the first album I ever heard of thiers and when I heard it I imediately fell in love. I really recommend this alot!!!

So Long, So Wrong is a very special CD featuring the best bluegrass vocals to be heard anywhere. The voices of Dan Tyminski (the "Man of Constant Sorrow" singer) and Alison are sure to delight. Instrumentally, this CD features a mandolin-dominated sound, versus the newer CD ("New Favorite") which replaces the mandolin solos with the stellar dobro work of Jerry Douglas. The Union Station band on the newer CD is really an all-star band. "Contemporary Bluegrass All-Stars!" - (my term). And on both of these CDs, Alison Kraus and Union Station are trying to achieve something that is very unusual: to combine two different kinds of music into one enjoyable listening package. First is the straight-ahead bluegrass, performed magnificently and authentically, and I am always amazed at how rythmic bluegrass can be (without percussion)... where even the singers' inflections help to establish a driving rythm. The second type of music is folk, mellow and smooth and gentle, sung in Alison's sometimes whisper-quiet voice and with a rich instrumental backing. These CDs alternate between the two styles, one song a foot-stomper and the next song a folky ballad, and for me, it works wonderfully. Do these divergent styles make the musicians gripe, make them cranky? Isn't that how so many bands have folded, because of disagreements over musical direction? Well there is no hint of disaffection here, at least none that I can see. In fact, the musicians' joy shines thru in every song. "So Long, So Wrong" makes for beautiful listening.

This is the real thing folks - real singers and real musicians making real music. Blow off Shania and Faith and BUY THIS AND EVERY OTHER Alison Krauss + Union Station CD AVAILABLE!!!...