Excitement continues to build as the second single off the highly-anticipated Arcadia album from Alison Krauss and Union Station, set to drop March 28 on Down The Road Records, has officially arrived. This is the very first track to feature Russell Moore, who joined up this year as the newest member of Union Station, on lead vocals. Russell’s addition to the band is certainly a power-play, as two vocalists hailed as bluegrass’s best are now sharing the same stage and studio.
“Jerry, Ron, Barry, and I all met when Dan Tyminski left the band,” says Alison Krauss, “and Jerry asked me, ‘What do you think?’ I said, ‘Russell Moore,’ and they all said, ‘Absolutely!’ I couldn’t believe it when we went into the studio and his voice came through the speakers. He just stands there and sings with his hands in his pockets, and he kills it. The first song he did was Granite Mills, and about ten minutes in, Ron was covering his mouth because he started giggling. Russell came in and inspired us all.”
And that inspirational, captivating voice of Russell’s takes charge on Granite Mills. His thrilling tenor voice narrates a tragic tale that relates both public disaster and individual sorrow. AKUS has taken a historical fatality and evoked the poignant, personal pain that runs ever present behind the guises of industrial tragedies. Granite Mills is a traditional song based on the burning of Fall River, New York’s Granite Mills in 1874. Intense instrumentation opens the sorrowful song, and the lyrics flow in a ballad-like nature describing the horrible events that befell the mill-workers who met their deaths in flames, or in desperate attempts to escape. Powerfully-driven lead singing from Moore fuels the emotion of the song, and bold swells of instrumentation from Alison, Jerry Douglas, Ron Block, and Barry Bales draw listeners deeper into the alluringly-woven story.
This new single and the forthcoming album are leading the way for the first Alison Krauss and Union Station tour in over ten years. The Arcadia tour includes special guest Willie Watson and features seventy-five dates across North America that are set to begin in full swing April 17 with back-to-back nights in Louisville, Kentucky. Russell Moore will continue to tour with IIIrd Tyme Out until the AKUS tour begins in April, and will resume performing with his band when Alison’s tour concludes in September.
Granite Mills and the previous single, Looks Like the End of the Road, are available to download and save on major streaming services, and Arcadia is available for pre-order on the official AKUS website, and to pre-save from major streaming platforms.
