Alison Kraus & Union Station: Alison Krauss (vocals, fiddle, viola); Ron Block (vocals, guitar, banjo); Dan Tyminski (vocals, guitar, mandolin); Barry Bales (vocals, bass); Jerry Douglas (dobro).

Additional personnel includes: Larry Atamanuik (drums, percussion).

Recorded at Seventeen Grand Recording, Nashville, Tennessee.

NEW FAVORITE won the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album. "The Lucky One" won the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by A Duo Or Group With Vocal and for Best Country Song.

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Personnel: Alison Krauss (vocals, fiddle, viola); Ron Block (vocals, guitar, banjo); Dan Tyminski (vocals, guitar, mandolin); Barry Bales (acoustic & electric basses, background vocals); Larry Atamanuik (drums, percussion).

Principally recorded at Seventeen Grand Studios, Nashville, Tennessee.

NEW FAVORITE won the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album. "The Lucky One" won the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by A Duo Or Group With Vocal and for Best Country Song.

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Following the success of the startlingly popular traditional old-timey soundtrack for the film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, contemporary bluegrass pioneers Alison Krauss & Union Station moved in the opposite direction for their 2001 release, New Favorite. While Krauss and Union Station guitarist/vocalist Dan Tyminski got deeply in touch with their dust bowl Americana roots for their work on the film, their follow-up studio album is certainly the slickest, most progressive work they've recorded to date. New Favorite seems almost neatly divided into two albums: one following the same path as Krauss' 1999 contemporary country solo album, Forget About It, and the other helmed by Tyminski, bringing a progressive slant to Union Station's traditional bluegrass feel. The whole album is well crafted (with the exception of Tyminski's laborious, drawn-out "The Boy Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn") but will certainly not sit right with certain elements of the band's core audience, which has come to know them as the strongest traditionally based bluegrass act still recording. The whole album feels a little too slick and reverbed out; the brilliant dobro work of Jerry Douglas seems echoey, and at times Krauss' vocals seem to be coming out of some deep studio well. The musicianship, however, is beyond top-notch. The players (specifically banjo player Ron Block and guitarist Tyminski) are among the best in the genre, and the harmonies between the two vocalists are stunning and sine-tingling. Their call and response vocals on "Daylight" serve as the highlight of the album, traced delicately by Douglas' dobro and chilling to the end. ~ Zac Johnson

Following the success of the startlingly popular traditional old-timey soundtrack for the film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, contemporary bluegrass pioneers Alison Krauss & Union Station moved in the opposite direction for their 2001 release, New Favorite. While Krauss and Union Station guitarist/vocalist Dan Tyminski got deeply in touch with their dust bowl Americana roots for their work on the film, their follow-up studio album is certainly the slickest, most progressive work they've recorded to date. New Favorite seems almost neatly divided into two albums: one following the same path as Krauss' 1999 contemporary country solo album, Forget About It, and the other helmed by Tyminski, bringing a progressive slant to Union Station's traditional bluegrass feel. The whole album is well crafted (with the exception of Tyminski's laborious, drawn-out "The Boy Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn") but will certainly not sit right with certain elements of the band's core audience, who has come to know them as the strongest traditionally based bluegrass act still recording. The whole album feels a little too slick and reverbed out; the brilliant dobro work of Jerry Douglas seems mired in echoes, and at times Krauss' vocals seem to be coming out of some deep studio well. The musicianship, however, is beyond top-notch. The players (specifically banjo player Ron Block and guitarist Tyminski) are among the best in the genre, and the harmonies between the two vocalists are stunning and chill inducing. Their call and response vocals on "Daylight" serve as the highlight of the album, traced delicately by Douglas' dobro and chilling to the end. Unfortunately, the collective spirit that was so evident on their 1997 release So Long So Wrong seems to be dissolving, and the award-winning fiddle playing that brought Krauss to the nation's attention seems to be becoming almost a background instrument (if it shows up at all). While there are intriguing moments in the album, it lacks the spark that So Long So Wrong had in spades, and even their few moments on the O Brother soundtrack seemed to breathe more life into the band than New Favorite does. ~ Zac Johnson

NEW FAVORITE finds Alison Krauss & Union Station continuing to solidify the bridge between the worlds of pop and bluegrass that they helped forge in the '90s. Krauss's crystalline vocals continue to induce goosebumps and bring to mind a young Dolly Parton on the delicate ballads "I'm Gone," "Crazy Faith," and "Momma Cried" along with more traditional-sounding fare like the high lonesome "Take Me For Longing." With its musical democracy still intact, Union Station also delights with new member Jerry Douglas' fleet-fingered instrumental workout "Choctaw Hayride" and a dark-hued interpretation of the traditional "The Boy Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn" delivered by Dan Tyminski's supple tenor. (Tyminski's vocals may strike a recognizable note as his voice replaced George Clooney's on "I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow," a musical centerpiece on the O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? soundtrack).

Once again Krauss takes a non-traditional bluegrass approach towards picking material. Among the artists interpreted are legendary country-folk banjo player Dock Boggs ("Bright Sunny South"), '70s singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg ("Stars"), fellow New Traditionalists Gillian Welch and David Rawlings (the title track), and Rounder labelmate Robert Lee Castleman ("Let Me Touch You For Awhile," "The Lucky One").

Q (9/01, p.110) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Pretty much the usual, if still wonderful, music from Krauss and Union Square..."

CMJ (8/27/01, p.28) - "...traditional folk that grows full and spooky..."

No Depression (9-10/01, p.138) - "...NEW FAVORITE delivers, which is plenty..."

Mojo (Publisher) (9/01, p.93) - "...The bluegrass scene is now officially in touch with its feminine side..."