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 Alison Krauss began taking violin lessons when she was 5 years old, and before long she'd earned the tag of "child prodigy." By the time she was 10 she had her own band, at 12 she won the Illinois State Fiddle Championship; at 13 the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass in America named her the Most Promising Fiddler in the Midwest. The topper was the record deal she signed with Rounder Records when she was 14; her first album release came before she was old enough to go to her senior prom.
Since then, Krauss has become a bona fide superstar in the worlds of bluegrass and country. Her collection of Grammy awards — as a solo performer, with her band, Union Station, with Robert Plant and as a producer — are more than any other woman; she's scored a pair of double-platinum-selling albums and many people credit her, along with Union Station, with helping to foster a new interest in bluegrass music.
In 2007, she teamed with Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant to make an album called Raising Sand produced by T Bone Burnett. This pairing is, at first glance anyway, a bit of a non sequitur until you consider the clues: Plant has long loved a variety of indigenous music, while Krauss has done her share of cross-genre collaborations, including those with James Taylor, Sting and John Waite. Plant and Krauss first blended their talents together at a 2004 concert celebrating blues legend Leadbelly. When all was said and done, Raising Sand won five awards at the 51st Annual Grammys including Record of the Year ("Please Read the Letter") and Album of the Year.
Provenance: Champaign, Illinois
Latest release: Raising Sand (with Robert Plant) (2007)
© 2009 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.
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