Saturday, February 18, 2017
Alison Krauss
Album: “Windy City”
Grade: A
When it comes to selecting songs, Alison Krauss’ aim is true. “Windy City” is classic country, with most of the tunes older than their 45-year-old singer. Krauss embraces them as her own, expanding her palette and making the traditional sound contemporary.
Krauss draws on familiar and obscure material previously performed by artists such as Ray Charles, Willie Nelson and Brenda Lee, and the arrangements are as wide-ranging as the songs’ sources. There’s weepy pedal steel, Tex-Mex guitar, a burst of Dixieland horns, tuba and a string orchestra — violins, not fiddles. Members of Krauss’ band Union Station also contribute.
Out front is her angelic soprano, which rises to the occasion throughout, and not just when she climbs the scale with a goose-bumps-inducing crescendo on the Osborne Brothers’ “It’s Goodbye and So Long to You.”
—Steven Wine, Associated Press
Ryan Adams
Album: “Prisoner”
Grade: A
From the days when he exploded out of North Carolina with the alt-country band Whiskeytown to his steady growth into one of America’s great songwriters, Ryan Adams has always floated just below superstar status. If it’s possible to be underrated through years of sustained excellence, he has pulled it off.
But the excellence continues on “Prisoner,” a fine collection of fresh songs and new takes on heartache that demonstrates as much mastery as anything Adams has done. It matches surprising melodies with brilliant arrangements and affecting, urgent lyrics, reminding listeners that this is a craftsman who turns everything he touches into gold.
If there is a flaw here it lies in familiarity — Adams is hardly venturing beyond his comfort zone. But when you are this good that’s not a significant problem.
—Scott Stroud, Associated Press