Alison Krauss and Union Station, Live (2 CDs), Rounder

As a shameless admirer of Alison Krauss, I hied myself off to Massey Hall when she performed here with Union Station earlier this year. The very tight playlist was virtually identical to the one you'll get on this 2-CD set, her first live recording, made at the Louisville Palace. And totally without pretense: no light show, no theatrics, no exposed flesh, not a lot of stage patter. Just the musicians, with a rug the single prop. Krauss, already a cult favourite as both singer and fiddler among aficionados of bluegrass music, rose to mainstream celebrity as her kind of music did, largely on the strength of the wildly successful soundtrack from the Coen Brothers 2001 movie, O Brother Where Art Thou and the subsequent Down from the Mountain tour. Her singing with Emmylou Harris and Gillian Welsh on the gospelly Down to the River to Pray and the siren lullaby Didn't need Nobody But the Baby can fairly be described as angelic. Dan Tyminski, an essential part of Krauss's band, also made a rousing impact as George Clooney's voice for I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow. But Krauss is no longer strictly bluegrass, though there remain large dollops of it - the footstomping instrumental Choctaw Hayride and The dolorously joyful The Boy Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn (with Tyminski on vocal); she's becoming increasingly mainstream. Among the gospel and 'grass there are quite a number of romantic ballads that make use of her warm, light-as-a-feather voice, such as Let Me Touch You for a While, Baby, Now That I've Found You, When You Say Nothing at All and New Favorite. Now all these are lovely and touching, especially a track titled Maybe, but fans should be aware that they're more New Country than roots. That said, there's plenty of mountain music to keep the toes tapping: Cluck Old Hen, We Hide and Seek, Monkey Let the Hogs Out, a ringing version of Little Feat's classic Oh, Atlanta and, of course, Man of Constant Sorrow and Down to the River to Pray. And I never tire of the superb combination of Krauss's soft, lovely voice and the absolute brilliance of her band - Tyminski and Ron Block on guitar and sometimes banjo, Barry Bales on bass and the amazing Jerry Douglas, who some have called the Charlie Parker of the Dobro. New favourite or old favourite, old-fashioned hoedown or pop crossover, this is a must-have for fans and a great starting point for anyone who does not know this truly exceptional band.

Photo Credit: alisonkrauss.com