Friday 24 May
 
 

IndianGiver — Plafond EP

If you were to peruse the “About” section of IndianGiver’s Facebook page, you’ll notice how the instruments attributed to each of the Oklahoma City band’s five members are described with downright flippancy: Dylan Jordan plays “sticks & animal skins,” while Jazzton Rodriguez earns his keep with “shanties & loud noises,” and so on.
05/22/2013 | Comments 0

Various artists — Never Give Up: Celebrating 10 Years of The Postal Service

Few indie bands have had the impact on current music that The Postal Service has. Even fewer have done so with only one album.
05/15/2013 | Comments 0

Big Worm — Bench All-Stars

Fans of the comedy classic Friday may recognize the name Big Worm, but the Big Worm behind Bench All-Stars is rooted not in South Central L.A., but on the streets of Oklahoma City.
05/08/2013 | Comments 0

Code 22 — Going Soft: The Acoustic Album!

The guys of Oklahoma City’s Code 22 seem like a likable group of fellas. Their latest release, Going Soft: The Acoustic Album!, is likable enough as well — so likable that on first listen, I took its clean, acoustic sound and clear, unstressed vocals as an alternative praise-and-worship band.
05/08/2013 | Comments 0

Eureeka — Polysynthetic Fields

It’s always refreshing to hear music that embraces its own eccentricity, yet presents it in an accessible and meek fashion. Eureeka — the Norman-based duo of Jordan Vargas and Devin Wahl — has tapped into this rarified air on its self-released EP, Polysynthetic Fields.
05/08/2013 | Comments 0
Newsletter
Home · Articles · Music · Music · Union labors
Music

Union labors


Bluegrass giants Alison Krauss and Union Station continue to pick and pluck their way to popular brilliance.

Matt Carney March 21st, 2012  

Alison Krauss and Union Station
7:30 p.m. Sunday
Civic Center Music Hall
201 N. Walker
okcciviccenter.com
$49.50-$59.50
297-2264

You’re already familiar with Dan Tyminski whether you realize it or not.

Currently Alison Krauss and Union Station’s resident guitar and mandolin picker, Tyminski lent his stark bluegrass tenor to the singing voice of George Clooney’s character in the Coen brothers’ 2000 film, O Brother, Where Art Thou?

His performance of “Man of Constant Sorrow” as part of the Soggy Bottom Boys helped the song win a Grammy, and generate enough sales of the soundtrack to go eight-times platinum.

Tyminski’s string and vocal talents have supported Krauss and Union Station for 18 years now, and while they’ve played the globe, won a gamut of awards, and even performed for three consecutive U.S. presidents, a show never passes without taking a little bit of a toll.

“No matter where I play or who I play for: I have butterflies for the first few minutes of every show I do,” he said. “It’s not crippling, but those couple little butterflies always float around before I settle into my comfort zone.”

Tyminski confirmed that same level of nervousness when playing for Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama, but for reasons one wouldn’t expect.

“It’s more difficult to play the real small audiences than the large ones, and those East Room shows [in the White House] always had smaller ones,” he said. “You tend not to feel the worry when you’re playing for more people.”

Currently riding another massive wave of success from last year’s Grammy-winning Paper Airplane, little has changed Krauss and Union Station’s approach to the recording studio, although they’re now spanning their fourth decade of activity.

They still meet to discuss which tunes to record, whether original numbers penned for the band by industry veterans like Elvis Costello and Jackson Browne, bright up-and-comers like Aoife O’Donovan or old-timey folk-standard writers like Tim O’Brien.

Tyminski sings the latter’s uptempo bluegrass number “On the Outside Looking In” on Paper Airplane, and said that it was as simple a choice as any they’ve made in all their time as a group.

“That was one of those that was easy,” he said. “We all raised our hand — there was a five-way tie for ‘Yes, let’s do it.’”

 
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
 
 

 

 
 
 
Close
Close
Close