Alison Krauss

Alison Krauss (born July 23, 1971) is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in 1987. She was invited to join the band with which she still performs, Alison Krauss and Union Station (AKUS), and later released her first album with them as a group in 1989.

She has released eleven albums, appeared on numerous soundtracks, and helped renew interest in bluegrass music in the United States. Her soundtrack performances have led to further popularity, including the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, an album also credited with raising American interest in bluegrass, and the Cold Mountain soundtrack, which led to her performance at the 2004 Academy Awards. During her career she has won 27 Grammy Awards, making her the most awarded female artist, the most awarded singer, and tied for the second most awarded artist overall in Grammy history.

Albums:

* Album "Paper Airplane" (2011)

Paper Airplane is the title of an album by Alison Krauss and Union Station. It was released on April 12, 2011 and marks Krauss' fourteenth album. It is Krauss' first release with Union Station since Lonely Runs Both Ways in 2004. The album includes covers version of "My Opening Farewell" and "Dimming of the Day", which were originally recorded by Jackson Browne and Richard Thompson, respectively.

The albums lead-off single, the title track, was released to country music radio and Triple A radio on March 28, 2011; however, the single failed to enter a Billboard music chart. Track List:

1. "Paper Airplane"  - 3:36
2. "Dustbowl Children"   - 3:06
3. "Lie Awake"   - 3:55
4. "Lay My Burden Down"   - 3:52
5. "My Love Follows You Where You Go"   - 4:03
6. "Dimming of the Day"   - 5:20
7. "On the Outside Looking In"   - 3:35
8. "Miles to Go"   - 2:54
9. "Sinking Stone"   - 4:42
10. "Bonita and Bill Butler"  - 4:03
11. "My Opening Farewell"    - 4:08

My Opening Farewell - Alison Krauss

My love stands before the open window
Staring so far away
He can almost feel the southern wind blow
Almost touching my restless days

He turns from the window to me
Sad smile his apology
Sad eyes reaching for the door

Daylight loses to another evening
And still he spares me the word goodbye
He sits alone beside me fighting his feelings
He struggles to speak but in the end I only cry

Suddenly it's so hard to find
The words that would help me speak my troubled mind
He’s offering these to me as if to be kind:
There is a train everyday leaving either way
There is a train everyday leaving either way
There is a world, you know
And there is a way to go
And we'll soon be gone, it's just as well
This is my opening farewell

A child's drawing is on the table
A woman's silk lying on the floor
And he would keep me here if I were able
And lock us safe behind this open door

But suddenly it's so clear to me
I've asked him to see what he may never see
Now his kind words find their way back to me
There is a train everyday leaving either way
There is a world, you know
And there is a way to go
And we'll soon be gone, it's just as well
This is my opening farewell

Bonita and Bill Butler - Alison Krauss

I grew up in the scantling yards of Wheeling West Virginia
A wheelhouse cub looking for an open door
In the packet ways a Sweeney wed the keel of my Bonita
Just two months from her timbers til she moored
I paid the fare in billet on her maiden voyage to Vicksburg
And talked my way to hand the tiller on the course
In her planks I carved a notch and sealed the vow “Be my Bonita”
And her dowry was my life between the shores

I was born with rouging ways, and she steered me like a woman
From the port calls and the bawds that lead me stray
The calliope serenades, made the old towns come running
And the boys would gamble shards to pull her chains
The striker’s boast would fain me loss, about the wrecks the shoals were keeping
And how the old girl’s got poor Billy’s ransom saved

On the lake at Bistineau, she set the wharf at Dixie
With a thousand bales of cotton on her main
As the great raft disappeared, the watermark went sinking
And she was stuck right hard, a listing on the bank
With the furnace still a blaze, I stood my last upon her
Then climbed the prow and took a landsman’s trade
“A derelict now Milady” said the watch log I’ve concorded
“Have the bosun sound us eight bells for the change”

Cause I was born with rouging ways, and she steered me like a woman
From the port calls and the bawds that lead me stray
The calliope serenades, made the old towns come running
And the boys would gamble shards to pull her chains
And I would take to wider walks, so the gin I stopped a drinking
At three scores aloft this crooked frame
The striker’s boast would fain me loss, about the wrecks the shoals were keeping
And how the old girl’s got poor Billy’s ransom saved

Sinking Stone - Alison Krauss

I called you today
Wanting a change
I never meant to hurt anyone
Never meant for you to pull out your guns
But feelings won't stay
In this meager parade
You're beating to a different drum
In this lack of all the luster we've become

Save your breath
You know we've both
Tried our best
But it's leaving

This might as well be done
I'm falling with the sun
When the hours getting sour won't save with time
And I'm waving off the one
Who wouldn't let me run
Though we tried, it's a lie I can't keep dragging on
I'm untying this sinking stone...

Don't sit on the fence
Living past tense
Holding on to wishes and words
Folding out a picture we blur
Cause here in the end
I'm losing a friend
Fighting back a tear when it burns
Dividing up the pieces that we were

Save your breath
You know we've both
Tried our best
But it's leaving

This might as well be done
I'm falling with the sun
When the hours getting sour won't save with time
I'm waving off the one
Who wouldn't let me run
Though we tried, it's a lie I can't keep dragging on
I'm untying this sinking stone...

I can't say you're all alone
I'm accepting what I own
Here lies a blanket not a bandage

I'm unable to restrain
When the wake that we became
Is drawing me under

This might as well be done
I'm falling with the sun
When the hours getting sour won't save with time
I'm waving off the one
Who wouldn't let me run
Though we tried, it's a lie I can't keep dragging on

This might as well be done
I'm falling with the sun
When the hours getting sour won't save with time
I'm waving off the one
Who wouldn't let me run
Though we tried, it's a lie I can't keep dragging on
I'm untying this sinking stone...

Miles To Go - Alison Krauss

It's feelin' longer now than it ever has before
Another memory is another slammin' door
It's gettin' too dark now to see

Every photograph is another lesson learned
Every sleepless night is another page I've turned
I wake up to fallin' dreams

And the petals start to fade by the picket fences
Just another shade of miles and miles to go

If I had a chance, I must've missed it long ago
if I could run away, I wouldn't have to let you go
This angel's bound to stray

Like an hourglass, I'm a soul to sinkin' sand
You try to hold my heart and I will slip right through your hands
Time just blows away

And the petals start to fade by the picket fences
Just another shade of miles and miles to go
And the tears forever flow

And the petals start to fade by the picket fences
Just another shade of miles and miles to go
And this angel's bound to stray
It's another shade of miles and miles to go

On the Outside Looking In - Alison Krauss

You've closed a door in front of me
I wait patiently outside
And as the minutes tick away
I feel my anger rise

And who's the object of my rage?
And who's not being fair?
Is it you for your indifference?
Or me for just standing there?

'Cause in my mind the room beyond
is bathed in golden light
Well I dream about you through the day
and I toss and turn at night

Sometimes it's hard to understand
When they say that pride's a sin
Should I go or should I stay
on the outside looking in?

Well I didn't make the grade today
and I'm not the only one
But my heart won't stop hurting
my feeling all alone

And maybe we'll trade places
in some not so distant year
I'll hear your voice a-calling out
and I'd cover up my ears

'Cause in my mind the room beyond
is bathed in golden light
well I dream about you through the day
and I toss and turn at night

Well sometimes it's hard to understand
when they say that pride's a sin
An' should I go or should I stay
on the outside looking in?

well I could brag on the things I've done
or the places I have been
But I've never found a cure
for on the outside looking in

Sometimes it's hard to understand
when they say that pride's a sin
Should I go or should I stay
on the outside looking in?

Dimming of the Day - Alison Krauss

This old house is falling down around my ears
I'm drowning in a river of my tears
When all my will is gone you hold me sway
I need you at the dimming of the day

You pulled me like the moon pulls on the tide
You know just where I keep my better side

What days have come to keep us far apart
A broken promise or a broken heart
Now all the bonny birds have wheeled away
I need you at the dimming of the day

Come the night you're only what I want
Come the night you could be my confidant

I see you on the street and in company
Why don't you come and ease your mind with me
I'm living for the night we steal away
I need you at the dimming of the day

I need you at the dimming of the day

My Love Follows You Where You Go - Alison Krauss

More wishes than a thousand hearts can count for you
More smiles than a merry-go-round
The sweetest ending to a bed-time story told
My love follows you where you go

More laughter than a kindergarten out to play
One Sunday morning song that says it all
More summer than a California beach can hold
My love follows you where you go

Future like a promise - and you're a city of Gold
Stubborn in your bones and Jesus in your soul
Seeing you stand there - staring at the unknown
I won't pretend that it's not killing me
Watching you walk away slow

Take forgiveness - take a prayer - take the deepest breath
Take the answers in your heart
When you wake up and the world is cruel and cold
My love follows you where you go

Future like a promise - and you're a city of Gold
Stubborn in your bones and Jesus in your soul
Seeing you stand there - staring at the unknown
I won't pretend that it's not killing me
Watching you walk away slow

More freedom than a field of flowers in the wind
More beauty than a morning after rain
Up the steepest hill - a dark and crooked road
My love follows you where you go

Future like a promise - and you're a city of Gold
Stubborn in your bones and Jesus in your soul
Seeing you stand there - staring at the unknown
I won't pretend that it's not killing me
Watching you walk away slow

Lay My Burden Down - Alison Krauss

Gonna lay my burden down
Gonna lay my body in the ground
Cold clay against my skin
But I don't care at all

Can't seem to find my piece of mind
So with the earth I'll lay entwined
Six feet underground
My feet are warm and dry

When I get to the other side
I'll put your picture way up high
But I'm not coming back to you
It's just too far

If I was cast off on the sea
Would you com and look for me
Or would you just let me sink
Beneath the waves so blue

What if I had learned to fly
Fly all night till day drew nigh
Touch down upon a branch and
Scan the crowd for you

When I touch my feet on the land
I'll kiss your lips and take you in
But you know I'm not here to stay
It's just too far

Darling can't you hear me cry
My bones are broke
My tongue is tied
The moon is swaying back and forth
Against the navy sky
Is all I can see
My body is trembling on my knees
Just have a little mercy on me
Run away and hide

When I sleep the angels sing
But I cannot hear a thing
Eyes close
Dreaming of better days gone by

When I wake the trumpets play
And I'm standing at the gates
Fall down and joy
I know my race has just been won

When I was young my momma would say
Well live is hard, but that's OK
If you can make it through the day
It's not that far
No, it's not that far

Lie Awake - Alison Krauss

I want to run away, don't come out lookin' round
Too busy dealing with it on my own
He's right behind me, please God I can't be found
Don't cast another stone

Feel I can wait until the sun rise
The city tells me not to go till dawn
And if he wakes, that's when my heart breaks
and I'm as good as gone

How do I lie awake now
when i know I've got to be moving on?
How do I lie awake now
when nothing's right and nothing's wrong?

And in the end, will we make amends?
Just like we're face-to-face, another dawn
And in the night or when the moon shines
will you take me on home?

How do I lie awake now
when i know I've got to be moving on?
How do I lie awake now
when nothing's right and nothing's wrong?

How do I lie awake now
when i know I've got to be moving on?
How do I lie awake now
when nothing's right and nothing's wrong?

Dustbowl Children - Alison Krauss

My father’s name was Hannibal, Mama was Hanna-Mariah.
Everything we owned got all burned up in the great depression fire
Strip mines and one crop farming drained the green earth dry.
We lost it all till only love was left, and that was the one thing money can’t buy.

We’re all Dust Bowl Children
Singin’ the dust bowl song
Well, the crops won’t grow,
And the dust just blows
When the green fields are gone.
When the green grass growing fields are gone.
When the green fields are gone.
When the green grass growing fields are gone.

Well, they said in California, there’s work of every kind.
The only work that I got out there was waiting on a welfare line.
Once I had a dollar, once I had a dream.
Now all the work is being done by a big ole machine.

We’re all Dust Bowl Children
Singin’ the dust bowl song
And the crops won’t grow,
And the dust just blows
When the green fields are gone.
When the green grass growing fields are gone.
When the green fields are gone.
When the green grass growing fields are gone.

Paper Airplane - Alison Krauss

I've put it all behind me
Nothing left to do or doubt
Some may say
But every silver lining always seems to have a cloud
That comes my way

Anticipated pleasure or unexpected pain
No choice I fear
And love is hard to measure hidden in the rain

That's why you'll find me here all alone and still wondering why
Waiting inside for the cold to get colder
And here where it's clear that I've wasted my time
Hoping to fly 'cause it's almost over now

People come together, people go their own way
Love conquers few
And I'll do whatever, I'll say what I need to say
Just not for you

How many days should I smile with a frown?
'Cause you're not around with the sun on your shoulders
And how many nights must I wake up alone?
And know in my soul that it's almost over now

Our love is like a paper airplane flying in the folded wind
Riding high, dipping low
And innocence is fair game, I'm hoping I can hold it in
Our love will die, I know