I'm personally not much of a fan of AKUS, but I do certainly know an angelic voice when I hear one... there are only a few people that still give me goosebumps to hear sing, Alison is one of them.
Few! I was getting slightly worried by the turn this threat was taking!
I have to interject: Alison embodies what bluegrass is to me, she opened my eyes to that whole universe and I'm forever grateful to her for that.
I discovered her when I about 5 years old and she woke up in me this burning urge to sing, this ache in my chest I felt so strongly for that sound. Her debute albums are bluegrass treasures, and she went on to create a genre of her own. This I can understand might not be to everyone's taste, but if you go back and listen to her musical career, albums like Too late to Cry, Two Highways, I've got that old Feeling or Everytime you say Goodbye, you can't say she hasn't got a distinctive voice. To me, there is no one out there who matches her skill, purity, tone, warmth, subtlety, range of voice and the sheer emotion she brings to a song. If just one song, listen to her sing the beatles "I will" with Tony Furtado & Rob Ickes. If that doesn't give you goosebumps I don't know what will!
Also, when you look at her musical path, she's always been playing with the greats: Jerry Douglas, Tony Rice, Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan, Tony Trischka, and the list goes on and on...
I'll just add MY wish list for the 2009 Telluride Line up (this will be my first bluegrass festival so I'm dreaming of my total bluegrass utopia)
Alison Krauss
Tony Rice (in an ideal world with his voice back)
Stuart Duncan
Tony Furtado
Alison Brown
Adam Steffey
Just a minute, how about the 1992 Union Station formation: Alison Krauss, Alison Brown, Adam Steffey, Tim Stafford and Barry Bales (another utopic idea...)
Sierra Hull
The Nashville Bluegrass band
Tony Trischka
Harley Allen
Jerry Douglas, Bela Fleck, Tim O'Brien & Sam Bush, but they're confirmed already !!!!
I'm probably forgetting loads but those a probably my bare essentials
Lets see if I get first timers luck....