Alison Krauss and Union Station: Paper Airplane

Alison Krauss – I respect you? But I don’t want to listen to you.

I want to like this album. I really do. Because it’s the only album high up the country charts with any semblance of real bluegrass influence. But, it’s really not that good. Sorry.

I was sitting in my room listening to Alison Krauss’s Paper Airplane when my mother (who knows nothing about Country music, much less bluegrass) walked in and made the following observation:

“Hey, that sounds like….”
“Oh Brother Where Art Thou?”
“Yes.”
“Well, they were on that album.”

Good point, mom. The finer moments on the album sound like Oh Brother Where Art Thou. Straight up old school bluegrass. But it’s nothing special. It’s just a familiar sound that comforts the ear.

Alisson Krauss has won a lot of Grammy awards. But then again, awards mean nothing. She’s talented. A fine fiddle player. But, the meekness and quietness in her voice is a snoozefest. She might be a good lyricist, but without the help of her band mates, she’s no more a standout than any soft spoken chick with an acoustic playing a coffee shop.

It’s not a bad album. It’s not a good album. It’s the kind of album where you skip every other song. In this case? The ones she’s singing are the ones to skip. I’m sure her lyrics are poetic but I couldn’t stay awake to really hear them. Why on earth Paper Airplane is the first/title track is beyond me (unless they were marketing it towards babies who can’t get to sleep).

Oh Brother Where Art Thou originality? A Top 40 trip back to the Civil War era….