Lonely Runs Both Ways

Rounder RRCD 525

Alison Krauss and Union Station have not always strictly been a band that has taken a traditional step towards playing bluegrass music, but they have drawn many people towards the music genre who would of otherwise rejected it. It has to be Alison's distinctive lonesome vocals that drive the passion that music fans have for Alison and the band. Time-honoured band members Barry Bales, Ron Block, Dan Tyminski who has long been the mainstay of the band and the recent addition of 'Ace' Dobro player Jerry Douglass create a sensational sound. The wide and varied style of acoustic music with a bluegrass foundation that the band have played over the years has seen some wonderful arrangements of popular songs that have even included numbers from the pens of Lennon & McCartney.

With Lonely Runs Both Ways we are treated to 15 tracks mixing the conventional bluegrass style with a modern acoustic outline. Robert Lee Castleman wrote the title track for Alison Krauss' 1999 album Forget About It and Alison put her finger on the button at the time when she observed "The tunes are so unpredictable, yet they're so catchy you think you know them already". We can find 3 tracks written by Robert Lee Castleman with the very gentle "Gravity" starting us out. Following closely "Restless" is mid-tempoed scorcher that pours over the unsettled feelings with a relationship that is haunted by letdowns of the past. The third song from Castleman comes with "Doesn't Have To Be This Way" and on "Crazy As Me" he collaborates with his wife Melanie.

Dan Tyminski takes over on lead vocals with Del McCoury's "Rain Please Go Away" as he also does later with Woody Guthrie's "Pastures of Plenty" and "This Sad Song", which is a fusing of songwriting talents between Alison Krauss and Alison Brown…former banjo player with Union Station. Current banjo player Ron Block takes lead vocals on his own song "I Don't Have To Live This Way" and also contributes the inspirational "A Living Prayer" with Alison's soft vocals regaining the lead, along with Ron and Dan laying down a gentle guitar backing. Other standout tracks include Jerry Douglas' instrumental "Unionhouse Branch", "Borderline" written by brother and sister friends of Krauss, Sydney and Suzanne Cox and "Wouldn't Be So Bad" contributed by Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings.

Lonely Runs Both Ways is another CD for the collection of fans of Alison and Union Station. A good album to wet the appetite of those new to bluegrass or for the music fan that isn't really into the solid bluegrass sound.