Alison Krauss & Union Station
Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, Thursday, Jan. 13

The Alison Krauss story is well known by now, but in case ya missed it, here’s a quick recap .... Alison picked up the fiddle at age 5, and made quick work of it: by age 8, she was entering talent contests; by age 10, she had her own band; by age 12, she was named the Most Promising Fiddle Player in the Midwest. She signed to Rounder Records at age 14, and two years later Too Late To Cry was in stores around the nation. After a string of country-tinged releases that got the bluegrass world in an understandable tizzy, she hit it big with the 1996 compilation Now That I’ve Found You. How big? The album hit #2 on the country charts, #13 on the pop charts, and has now sold over two million copies . . . numbers most bluegrass acts don’t even dream of.

Since then, it’s been all pie and gravy, with a string of hit albums and a minor role in “O Brother Where Art Thou?” to boot. Oh sure, she lost a few fans with 2001’s New Favorite, and for good reason: it was a bland album, slicked up and awash in reverb, problematic not because it stepped outside of the boundaries of traditional bluegrass but because it did so with such tedious results. Some old-timers blamed Krauss’ new short haircut, but such concerns were misplaced. The haircut was fine, Alison, but the music was not.

Didn’t matter: New Favorite went gold in four months. So don’t feel sorry for Alison: at the ripe old age of 33, she’s got 11 records in her catalog, 17 Grammys on her shelf, and she’s just landed Spot Number 20 on CMT’s “20 Sexiest Women in Country Music” list.

Plus she’s got a new album: Lonely Runs Both Ways was released in November, and true to form, the Great Gordo’s got his greedy little paws on a promotional copy. I noticed that the All Music Guide has taken to calling Alison Krauss and Union Station “adult contemporary,” and while it may be true that I’m a contemporary adult, the very phrase gives me the cold sweats. Lord save us from adult contemporary. I gave it a spin to find out for sure.

The playing, of course, is stellar. Jerry Douglas is a hero among dobro players, Ron Block can pluck a banjo, Dan Tyminski’s a solid guitar picker who knows when to trouble a note, and Krauss has been winning fiddle contests since she was in a training bra. Their full power is evident on the Douglas-penned instrumental “Unionhouse Branch,” a bendy swirling thing with strong Scottish overtones. The song is a high point on the album.

Elsewhere it sags, in all the predictable ways. I’ve come to believe that Krauss’ voice is a little too beautiful, a little too clean. There is too much syrup there, and not quite enough brass or heartache. I understand that this is Alison’s selling point. It’s no mistake that she was dressed as an angel and not a devil in “O Brother,” but I’ve always thought devils sang better. So while there’s something undeniably luscious in her delivery, hearing Krauss reel off a string of languid ballads and polite laments won’t exactly get your pulse to pounding. There’s something Teflon in that voice. Take “Crazy As Me,” for example. It’s a good song, written with spirit and spunk, a sharp-tongued kiss-off to an inconsiderate man. But when Krauss sings the tagline — “I can’t find nobody as crazy as me” — there’s nothing in her voice to suggest that she’s crazy in the least. Loretta Lynn can convince me she’s crazy, and Courtney Love already has, but Krauss has got some work to do.

Forgive the heresy, but I find Dan Tyminski’s voice much more appealing. Tyminski is the lead vocalist on three of the album’s 15 tracks — “This Sad Song” the best among ’em — and his tunes bring with them the sort of hard-edged craggy-mountain husk that makes bluegrass worth listening to in the first place. (You may know the voice from “O Brother”: it was Tyminski who sang “Man of Constant Sorrow” and provided George Clooney’s on-screen pipes.)

I’m a bit too hard on old Alison, I know. Shoot to the top of the bluegrass world, and all of the sudden two-bit crackpots from obscure mountain weeklies think they can take free shots. But at least I’ve earned my opinion. I admired Krauss for years, and I still enjoy the music she made in the first half of her career, which had a good bit more soul and spark. On Lonely Runs Both Ways, Krauss and her band deliver as nice a slice of adult contemporary as you could ask for. If those words mean “bland and lifeless” to you, stay away. If, on the other hand, they mean “sweet and pleasing,” you’ll no doubt be sweetly pleased by Lonely Runs Both Ways.

Tickets run from $42.50 to $47.50 plus Ticketmaster surcharges, but you can just look at those figures and chuckle: the show is sold out. And get this: the tour is “sponsored” by Cracker Barrel, whose ubiquitous logo unfurls itself in all its lardy glory on Krauss’ official Web site. The show starts at 8 p.m. ... but no word on whether or not balcony seating comes with sawmill gravy. Call 828.259.5544 for more info.

Also Playing in Asheville

• Whitewater Bluegrass Band, Jack of the Wood, 1/7

• The Illest Ladiez: An Evening of Female DJs, Stella Blue, 1/7

• Big Daddy and Bobby Lee Rodgers, Grey Eagle, 1/7

• My Brother Zebulon, Lost Gospels, Gertrude Ross, Broadway’s, 1/7

• Dave Childers and the Modern Don Juans, Westville Pub, 1/8

• Scrappy Hamilton, Stella Blue, 1/8

Three Good Pastas

1. Mostaciolli

2. Conchigliette

3. Tagliatelle

They Said It

“I don’t know what I’m doing. I never have. It’s very strange to have anybody to comment on my looks, other than, ‘Go take a shower. Don’t pick your face.’ That kind of thing.”

— Alison Krauss discussing the pitfalls of life on the red carpet, as quoted on CMT.com