Paper Airplane - CD

DESCRIPTION: Anyone who's paid attention to Alison Krauss' musical career, with and without Union Station, had to wonder what would happen after the unprecedented success of 2007's Raising Sand, her collaboration with Robert Plant. For her, the next logical move was to reunite with US, who had been dormant since 2004's Lonely Runs Both Ways and whose members all had busy solo careers. Given the long layoff, Paper Airplane was produced by US and engineered and mixed by Mike Shipley. According to Krauss, it was harder to complete than any previous album. Thankfully, it doesn't sound like it. It is a melancholy record, its songs largely revolve around themes of trial and perseverance. The title track that opens the record is a lilting country ballad written by Robert Lee Castleman and informed by Krauss' own recent life experiences. Her vocal is wrenching; it's utterly vulnerable in expressing love's loss, yet it's steely in its resolve, recognizing an eventual emergence. Peter Rowan's