Rounder's Krauss Rides Wave

True to her traditional release pattern, Alison Krauss is following a solo effort—in this case 1999's fine Forget About It—with New Favorite, a collection that reunites her with the band Union Station.

Due Tuesday (14) on Rounder, the project is the artist's first album since 1997's So Long So Wrong. It arrives as Krauss and her bandmates (guitarist/mandolinist/vocalist Dan Tyminski, banjoist/guitarist/vocalist Ron Block, acoustic bassist Barry Bales, and dobroist Jerry Douglas) are still riding the wave generated by the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, which featured their music. The act can also be found on the just-issued Down From the Mountain: Live Concert Performances by the Artists and Musicians of O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a soundtrack to a documentary in which they also starred.

Krauss says the success of the soundtrack did not have any bearing on the creative outcome of New Favorite, although being the mother of a time-consuming young son did affect its production. "I can't throw the same fits I used to because there's no time," she says, adding that the project came together in three months.

Krauss and Union Station have long transcended the bluegrass/country categorization, but Rounder GM Paul Foley feels that New Favorite offers them "the best chance in a long time" in the country market, with both radio and CMT already playing the album's first single/video, "The Lucky One."

Margot St. John, music director at WOKO Burlington, Vt., says the station will be all over the single, having listened to the album "five times straight as soon as it came in, which I don't do often."

Mercury Nashville is assisting fellow Universal-distributed Rounder with country promotion. "We think we've got the bases covered this time," Foley says, noting that the act will hit the road to tour for a year beginning on the street date.

Krauss is booked by Keith Case & Associates and managed by DS Management. Both are based in Nashville.