Alison Krauss and Union Station - Arcadia

 

Alison Krauss & Union Station — Arcadia

Their first album together in 14 years and self-produced by Alison Krauss & Union Station, Arcadia is a set of 10 songs that transcend time, reveal beautiful and tragic truths, and reaffirm why the group remains one of the most influential, widely celebrated acts of the past four decades.

The group just released a first glimpse at the project with the new song "Looks Like the End of the Road."

The songs were primarily composed by Robert Lee Castleman, Viktor Krauss, Bob Lucas, JD McPherson and Sarah Siskind.

"Usually, I find something that's a first song, and then things fall into place," Krauss said in a statement. "That song was ‘Looks Like The End Of The Road.' Jeremy Lister wrote it, and it just felt so alive - and as always, I could hear the guys already playing it."

The new album will release on Down The Road Records, which was founded in 2023 by Ken Irwin, Marian Leighton Levy and and Bill Nowlin, who previously founded the iconic independent music label Rounder Records, as well as "fourth Rounder" John Virant, who led Rounder for several years. Krauss was first signed to Rounder when she was 14. Meanwhile, Douglas first worked with Rounder in the 1970s as part of JD Crowe & The New South. Rounder supported Alison Krauss & Union Station's earlier releases, from the group's 1989 debut album Two Highways to their 2011 album Paper Airplane, which debuted atop multiple Billboard albums charts, including the country and bluegrass charts.

With Arcadia, Alison Krauss & Union Station welcome new band member Russell Moore on guitar, mandolin and co-lead vocals. Moore is known for his work with another bluegrass outfit, IIrd Tyme Out, and is the International Bluegrass Music Association's most-awarded male vocalist. He joins bandmates Krauss (fiddle, lead vocals), Jerry Douglas (dobro, lap steel, vocals), Ron Block (banjo, guitar, vocals) and Barry Bales (bass, vocals).

Krauss said in a statement regarding the album, "The stories of the past are told in this music. It's that whole idea of ‘in the good old days when times were bad.' There's so much bravery and valor and loyalty and dreaming, of family and themes of human existence that were told in a certain way when our grandparents were alive. Someone asked me, ‘How do you sing these tragic tunes? I have to. It's a calling. I feel privileged to be a messenger of somebody else's story. And I want to hear what happened."

 

1. There's A Light Up Ahead

2. Looks Like The End Of The Road

3. The Wrong Way

4. The Hangman

5. One Ray Of Shine

6. Granite Mills

7. North Side Gal

8. Richmond On The James

9. Snow

10. Forever

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