It’s been a long wait to hear new music from country’s most angelic voice, but Alison Krauss has announced that she will release a new album called Windy City—her first project without her band, Union Station, since 2007’s Raising Sand with Robert Plant.
The new album is set to be released on Feb. 17 and features 10 classic songs that Alison hand selected with her producer Buddy Cannon (Kenny Chesney, George Jones), including the lead track, Brenda Lee’s “Losing You.”
“Usually it’s just all songs first,” Alison said in a statement. “It was the first time I’d ever not had songs picked out, and it was just about a person.” That person was veteran Nashville producer Buddy Cannon. “That was absolutely the moment,” she says of the moment she stepped in the studio with Buddy to sing “Make The World Go Away” for Jamey Johnson’s 2012 album, Living For A Song. “Wow! Buddy really makes me want to do a good job.”
As Alison and Buddy worked in the studio to create Windy City— the first new music since 2011’s Paper Airplane—they decided to record songs like “Gentle On My Mind” by Glen Campbell; “You Don’t Know Me” by Eddy Arnold; Willie Nelson’s “I Never Cared For You” and Brenda Lee’s “All Alone Am I,” that pull at the heartstrings.
“It’s almost like you didn’t know it was sad, because it doesn’t sound weak.” Alison says of the album. “It doesn’t have a pitiful part to it, where so many sad songs do. But these don’t. And I love that about it. I love that there’s strength underneath there. That whatever those stories are, they didn’t destroy. That that person made it right through it. I love that.
“It was really fun. I had a great time doing it. And to really have the mindset of seeing something through someone else’s eyes was a blast,” said Alison.
Alison has released 13 albums, including her most recent 2011’s Paper Airplane and has sold more than 12 million records to date. With 27 wins, she is the most awarded female artist in GRAMMY history.
You can pre-order Windy City today, along with the album’s lead track “Losing You.”
Windy City Track Listing
1. Losing You – Written by Pierre Havet, Jean Renard and Carl Sigman. Originally recorded by Brenda Lee for her 1963 album Let Me Sing.
2. It’s Goodbye And So Long To You – background vocals by Dan Tyminski and Hank Williams Jr. Written by Raymond Couture and Harold J. Breau in 1952. Originally recorded by The Osborne Brothers with Mac Wiseman, for their 1979 collection The Essential Bluegrass Album
3. Windy City – background vocals by Suzanne Cox and Jamey Johnson. Written by Pete Goble and Bobby Osborne. Originally recorded by The Osborne Brothers.
4. I Never Cared For You – background vocals by Suzanne Cox and Sidney Cox. Written and originally recorded by Willie Nelson in 1964.
5. River In The Rain – Written by Roger Miller for the 1985 Broadway musical Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
6. Dream Of Me – background vocals by Buddy Cannon and Melonie Cannon. Written by Buddy Cannon, Jimmy Darrell & Raleigh Squires. Recorded by Vern Gosdin for his 1981 album Today My World Slipped Away.
7. Gentle On My Mind – background vocals by Teddy Gentry and Suzanne Cox. Written and recorded by John Hartford for his 1967 album. It was popularized by Glen Campbell as the title track of his 1967 album.
8. All Alone Am I – Originally written by Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis for the film The Island of the Brav the song was later given English lyrics by Arthur Altman and popularized by Brenda Lee as the title track of her 1962 album.
9. Poison Love – background vocals by Dan Tyminski and Jamey Johnson. Written by Elmer Laird. Originally recorded by Bill Monroe as the b-side to his “On the Old Kentucky Shore” single released in 1951.
10. You Don’t Know Me – Written by Cindy Walker & Eddy Arnold. Originally recorded by Eddy in 1955 as a single. It was later popularized by Ray Charles on his 1962 album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music.