Concert Review
By Joe Gross
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, July 22, 2002
Ralph Stanley didn't appear until the end of Friday's night show at the Erwin Center. The 75-year-old bluegrass legend is the star of "Down From the Mountain," the three-hour revue that takes the platinum soundtrack to "O Brother, Where Art Thou" on the road, to entertaining effect.
Alison Krauss and Union Station quickly asserted their status as the bill's biggest stars with "Every Time You Say Goodbye" and "Let Me Touch You for Awhile," and band member Dan Tyminski got his hit out of the way, running through "Man of Constant Sorrow." Emmylou Harris, the evening's most ubiquitous big name, sang a riveting version of "Goin' Back to Harlan" with the McGarrigle sisters, then appeared with Krauss and Patty Loveless for a shimmering "Got to Sleep Little Baby."
The crowd loved hearing the Flatlanders belt out "Right Where I Belong," followed by former Austinite Chris Thomas King's modernist Delta blues and the extremely young Peasall Sisters' "I'll Fly Away." Since it's never wise to follow children or dog acts, host Rodney Crowell announced a brief intermission.
Loveless, a former major-label Nashville hope, returned to her coal-miner's daughter roots with a sharp, sorrowful version of Darrell Scott's "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive," then showed up for a rollicking' duet on "Pretty Polly" with Stanley, who followed the show-stopping "O Death" with his own run at "Constant Sorrow."
He closed the evening with an all-hands "Amazing Grace." The crowd wisely joined in.