Whenever Gotham City is in peril, the bat signal is projected into the sky and the caped crusader comes running to save the day. Nashville isn’t exactly a crime-ridden dystopia, but its musical heritage certainly needs rescuing from the gangs of villainous bro-country acts who’ve distorted and devalued the genre. So beam Alison Krauss’s name above the city’s skyline, because the queen of bluegrass is here to rescue us from their evil clutches with the magnificent ‘Windy City’.
It only takes a few bars of Losing You to fall in love with this record. Not because of the gently sighing strings or silky acoustic picking, although they are splendid, but rather due to Krauss’s ethereal voice. When exposed to a singer this mesmerising, it’s easy for one’s knees to become weak. So we’ll take a moment to compose ourselves before explaining why these gorgeously sculpted vignettes represent such a resounding comeback.
‘Windy City’ is Krauss’ first solo effort in almost 18 years – her last album was back in 2011 with her band Union Station - and sees the singer reinterpreting classic songs that range from lesser known gems to more familiar fare.
Glen Campbell’s Gentle On My Mind is resplendent with bucolic wistfulness and the Ray Charles-popularised You Don’t Know Me is reborn as an impossibly soulful torch song. Both are recognisable, but the album’s unearthed diamonds steal the show.
A yearning rendition of the Osborne Brothers’ Windy City epitomises the unhurried pulse of this record, its piano, strings, tender harmonies and lap steel textures lying softly beneath that blissful, pining voice. Willie Nelson’s I Never Cared For You sways with an exotic bossanova rhythm and boasts a wonderfully evocative, imagery-laced hook. River In The Rain, meanwhile, was originally written for a Broadway musical about Hucklebery Finn. Here it’s a sparse bijou that highlights how, for all her ability, Krauss always serves the song with a delivery that’s instinctively empathetic and never gratuitous.
Buddy Cannon’s sage instrumental arrangements may not immediately dazzle, but their invaluable flavours carefully complement and elevate Krauss’s contributions. It’s Goodbye And So Long To You sounds like a crowd from the New Orleans Mardi Gras gatecrashing the Grand Ole Opry, with jazzy orchestration mixed with bluegrass twang, walking bass and Little Richard piano runs to wonderful effect.
For an album full of loss and heartache, ‘Windy City’ never feels downbeat. The songs are awash with resilience, while an exceptional take on Brenda Lee’s All Alone Am I finds Krauss’s naked vocal so soothing that she essentially take you into the epicentre of heartbreak and carries you out the other side fully healed.
With albums like this people often fall over themselves to claim it has a contemporary slant, like that’s needed to justify its classic aesthetic. Regardless of what you hear, this record doesn’t and is all the better for it. ‘Windy City’ is an oasis of authenticity in an increasingly gentrified and lowbrow country desert, a timely reminder of how powerful music is when artistic expression supersedes any desire for fame and fortune. So welcome back Alison Krauss, we’ve missed you. Just don’t leave it so long next time.
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