Style: Lilting folk/bluegrass; compare to Julie Lee, Sierra Hull, Buddy Miller
Top tracks: “Paper Airplane,” “Lay My Burden Down,” “Dimming of the Day”
In spite of a seven-year break, the 26-time Grammy winning Krauss and her legendary acoustic quartet remain in pristine condition. Canvassing hard human emotion for an exquisite eleven-song canon, Krauss and crew distinguish even the most melancholic of melodies with breathtaking dobro bends, carefree banjo rolls, and stirring low-droning fiddle lines. And though their haunts are heavy-hearted, a tangible hope pervades Airplane, attesting to the band’s spiritual sensitivity even without the band’s usual faith song standout. Alternating between Krauss’ songbird vocals and guitarist Dan Tyminski’s nasal bluegrass traditions, Airplanes is the perfect refinement of this American roots music icon.
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