Following her hugely successful adventures with Robert Plant on the groundbreaking Raising Sand album/tour, the multi Grammy-winning bluegrass superstar returns to her day job after a seven year absence. Krauss, who started out as a teenage fiddle prodigy, set the bar high very early in her career, almost single-handedly expanding the boundaries of bluegrass with her soundtrack work for O Brother Where Art Thou, Cold Mountain and inspired covers such as her version The Foundations ‘60s hit ‘Baby, Now That I’ve Found You‘. But it’s her voice, rather than her fiddle playing, that has made her the biggest roots star around – there is no other female vocalist with such a crystalline, instantly recognisable voice.
Mixing originals with well-chosen covers, Paper Airplane is well up with her best work to date, and with the band effortlessly cruising behind her she brings her pained, sweet melancholy to Richard Thompson’s gorgeous ballad, ‘Dimming Of The Day’. An early Jackson Brown track, ‘My Opening Farewell’ from his debut album, is given a much deserved new lease of life while other highlights here include her own, ‘Sinking Stone’ ‘Lay My Burden Down’ and the yearning road song, ‘Miles To Go’.
Union Station’s virtuosity is always impressive without being showy and despite Krauss’ prominence, it’s very much a full-band effort, with guitar player Dan Tyminski taking the high lonesome vocals on a pair of tracks – ‘Dust Bowl Children’ and ‘On The Outside Looking In’, while Dobro legend Jerry Douglas adds his own distinctive picking to the proceedings. This is good stuff all the way.