Given
Alison Krauss
' tremendous popularity and her status as the first female
bluegrass
singer to cross over into genuine
pop
marketability, and given the fact that her guitarist,
Dan Tyminski
, is the voice behind
"Man of Constant Sorrow"
(or at least the version that served as an idee fixe in the blockbuster movie
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
), a live album was inevitable. That it should be a two-disc set can simply be chalked up to good luck. Unless you're a
purist, that is, looking for music that preserves the
traditional
Appalachian sounds of
Ralph Stanley
and
Bill Monroe
. Listeners of that mindset will be bitterly disappointed by the presence of modern
singer/songwriter
fare (
"Lucky One,"
"Let Me Touch You for a While"
), by the drums on
"Oh, Atlanta,"
and, most of all, by those dreadful call-and-response vocals on the chorus of
(which, you can hear them sniff,
Tyminski
takes at about twice the appropriate speed). All of this would explain why
purists are no fun to be around and, one suspects, don't have very much fun in private either. The simple fact is that every time
Krauss
opens her mouth to sing, angels stop what they're doing and take notes. There may be no musical pleasure quite as pure and sweet as listening to
sing
"Baby, Now That I've Found You"
or
"When You Say Nothing at All."
And when she starts in on the impossibly beautiful
gospel
tune
"Down to the River to Pray,"
the effect is almost disturbingly moving. Which brings listeners to the problem with this album, which is the amount of time it spends on stuff other than
singing great songs. The instrumental bits, the
Jerry Douglas
showcases, and
's requisite rendition of
are all fine, but they end up feeling like filler. Still, this album can be solidly recommended to modern
fans in general and to
' many fans in particular. ~ Rick Anderson