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Alison Krauss Songs (A Heavenly Voice)

American fiddler and vocalist Alison Maria Krauss plays bluegrass and country music. She started in the music business at a young age, participating in regional competitions at the age of eight, and making her debut album at the age of 14. She joined Rounder Records in 1985, and in 1987, she issued her debut solo album.

Alison Krauss, a singer who has an angelic voice, also sings folk, pop, and rock. Her soprano singing style made her singing style unique.

She is a master at making mixed voices on different themes. She has released 14 albums with different soundtracks.

With several albums, she has recorded and performers she has worked with, Alison Krauss has garnered accolades from critics and won numerous Grammy Awards. Her songs give listeners a taste of her wide-ranging musical catalog, which includes bluegrass, country, folk, and other genres.

Now, let’s learn more about Alison and her work.

Early Life

Alison Krauss plays country music
Alison Krauss plays country music.

On July 23, 1971, Fred and Louise Krauss welcomed Alison Maria Krauss into the world in Decatur, Illinois, US. When he arrived in the country in 1952 as a 12-year-old German immigrant, her father began to teach in his own country while pursuing a Ph.D. in psychology.

He eventually entered the real estate industry. The daughter of painters, her mother is an American of German and Italian ancestry who works as a magazine and textbook illustrator.

Alison Krauss started her career in the music business at an early age. She entered regional competitions when she was eight years old and released her debut record when she was fourteen.

Krauss was exposed to folk music at home and heard rock and pop music on the radio since her mother played the banjo and acoustic guitar. At age five, Krauss started learning the classical violin at her mother’s request.

Krauss put off taking lessons in the classical genre until she was eleven years old because she didn’t want to spend time practicing.

Initial Work

In cooperation with Swamp Weiss, Jim Hoiles, and her brother Viktor Krauss, Krauss made her musical debut in 1986 on the indie album Different Strokes. She took Andrea Zonn’s place in the band “Silver Rail” when she was 12 years old, performing alongside bassist and lyricist John Pennell.

When another band with the name Silver Rail was found, Pennell eventually altered the group’s name to Union Station. She joined Rounder Records later in the year, and at the age of 16, in 1987, she released her debut album, Too Late to Cry, with Union Station serving as her backing band.

Two Highways, Krauss’ first album with Union Station, came out in 1989, not long after her breakthrough album as a solo artist. The classic songs “Wild Bill Jones” and “Beaumont Rag,” as well as a bluegrass rendition of the Allman Brothers’ “Midnight Rider,” can be found on the CD.

Greater Achievement

Krauss won her second “Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass” Album of the Year when “Every Time You Say Goodbye,” from Union Station’s second album, was published in 1992.

Afterward, at the age of 21, she became a member of the “Grand Ole Opry” in 1993. She was the first bluegrass performer to enter the Opry in 29 years and was the cast’s youngest member at the time.

In 1994, she also worked with “The Cox Family” on a bluegrass CD titled “I Know Who Holds Tomorrow.” Tim Stafford was replaced at Union Station in 1994 by guitarist and mandolin Dan Tyminski.

At the time of the live performance
At the time of the live performance

Late in the year, Krauss and Shenandoah worked together on the song “Somewhere in the Vicinity of the Heart,” which launched her into the Top Ten of the country music charts and won the “Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals.”

The song “Teach Your Children” by Krauss was included on the AIDS charity album Red Hot + Country, which was created by the Red-Hot Organization, along with Suzy Bogguss, Kathy Mattea, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, in 1994. She contributed vocals and violin to Tommy Shaw’s 1997 album 7 Deadly Zens, including the track “Half a Mind.”

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Subjects, Voice, and Musical Genre

Krauss has a high voice that has been called “angelic.” She has acknowledged Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs, and J. D. Crowe as musical inspirations. Her songs frequently deal with love, particularly lost love, and are frequently classified as sorrowful ballads.

Despite being closely involved with her band and having a lengthy career in music, Krauss rarely plays original compositions.

She has also stated that she generally starts with a single song and chooses subsequent tracks based on the first, giving the finished album a theme and atmosphere that are reasonably constant.

Although she has two songs on the adult contemporary charts and has collaborated with rock musicians like Phish and Sting, she mostly plays in the bluegrass and country genres. However, there have been rumors that she occasionally gravitates towards pop music

Awards and Recognition

  • Twenty-seven Grammy Awards have been earned by Krauss during her career as a solo performer, as a band with Union Station, in a duet with Robert Plant, and as a record producer. She is now fourth on the list of Grammy Award winners with the most.
  • At the 46th Grammy Awards, Krauss won three more awards, raising her total to seventeen (Franklin won her sixteenth that night), and she passed Aretha Franklin for the record for the most female victories.
  • She received a special musical accomplishment award from the Recording Academy in 2005 (the organization that oversees the Grammy Awards). Additionally, she has 14 International Bluegrass Music Association Awards to her name.
  • Nine Country Music Association Awards, two Gospel Music Association Awards, two CMT Music Awards, two Academy of Country Music Awards, and one Canadian Country Music Award Krauss was regarded 12th position on CMT‘s list of the “40 Greatest Women of Country Music” in 2002.

Alison’s Songs

  • Whiskey Lullaby
  • Gone Gone Gone
  • I’ll Fly Away
  • Down to the River to Pray
  • Ghost in This House
  • Let Me Touch You For
  • A Living Prayer
  • Baby Mine
  • Rich Woman
  • Down in the River
  • How’s the World Treating
  • Killing the Blues
  • Oh, Atlanta
  • Sister Rosetta Goes Before
  • The Scarlet Tide
  • The Boy Who Wouldn’t
  • The Lucky One
  • Can’t Let Go
  • When You Say Nothing At All
  • Baby, Now that I Have Found
  • Didn’t Leave Anybody
  • Lay Down Beside Me
  • Steel Rails
  • Goodbye is All We Have
  • Losing You
  • Trouble with My Lover
  • Sawing on the Strings
  • May Be
  • Losing You
  • In the Palm of Your Hand
  • Your Long Journey
While recording a new song
While recording a new song

List of Film Credits

YearTitleRoleNotes
1992High Lonesome: The Story of Bluegrass MusicHerselfDocumentary and concert film
1997Annabelle’s WishAdditional Voices
Voice only
2000Down from the MountainAdditional Voices
Voice only
2002Eight Crazy NightsJenniferSinging voice only
2004Paper ClipsHerselfSinging Voice Only
Film Credits of Alison Krauss

List of Television Credits

YearTitleRoleNotes
1991Hee HawHerselfEpisode: “No. 22.21”
1992Austin City LimitsHerself6 episodes; 1992–2005
1997Miracle on Highway 31HerselfTelevision film
2005Sesame StreetHerselfEpisode: “American Fruit Stand”
2006CMT Cross CountryPerformerwith Vince Gill
2008CMT CrossroadsPerformerwith Robert Plant
Television Credits of Alison Krauss
Discover more songs from Alison Krauss in this video.

Conclusion

  • The vocalist Alison Krauss played a significant part in the early 21st-century revival of interest in bluegrass music by performing folk, gospel, country, pop, and rock songs in the unamplified bluegrass style both alone and with her band, Union Station.
  • Krauss received so many awards for her hard work.
  • She was also a recipient of the National Medal of Arts in 2019, which is a great achievement.

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