Alison Krauss and Union Station w/ Jerry Douglas

The Read

Union Station has always operated on restraint. Krauss sings under the volume most singers would use, the band plays beneath that, and the effect is a room leaning forward rather than a band pushing outward. Jerry Douglas on Dobro is the other half of the argument — a player capable of enormous technique who spends most of a set choosing not to use it. Dan Tyminski’s vocal turns supply the grit. The Ryman is the only large room in town where this actually works acoustically, which is why the band keeps coming back to it. Expect long stretches where the loudest sound is a fiddle, expect at least one number sung around a single condenser mic, expect the audience to hold an unusual silence. A multi-night run means the band will settle in rather than perform.

The Room

Ryman Auditorium

116 5th Ave N

Built in 1892 as a tabernacle by river captain Thomas Ryman, who was converted at a Sam Jones revival — little did he know it would become the church of American roots music.