Alison Krauss & Union Station Release 'Arcadia', First New Album in 14 Years

Alison Krauss & Union Station Release Arcadia, First New Album in 14 Years: 

First Tour in More Than a Decade Begins Next Month, Spanning 75+ Dates Across North America 

“Arcadia reconvenes and reconfigures a band that has transformed the sound of modern bluegrass” – The New York Times

Alison Krauss & Union Station return with their first new album in 14 years: ARCADIA. Out now on Down The Road Records, this is a collection of music that “reconvenes and reconfigures a band that has transformed the sound of modern bluegrass by constantly drawing new subtleties from old-time roots,” writes The New York Times. “But what makes the band so distinctive is its quietly incandescent restraint: the hushed concentration it summons behind Krauss’s pristinely melancholy soprano, which can sound haunted even when she sings about true love.”

Throughout Arcadia’s ten transcendent songs, produced by Alison Krauss & Union Station, beautiful and tragic stories unfold, as they reflect upon hard truths of history and the lives of those who have come before. Highlights like “Richmond On The James,” “Looks Like The End Of The Road,” “Granite Mills” and more “relocate perennial bluegrass themes of loss and travail to the present in contemporary confessions of alienation and paths not taken,” says MOJO, in a four-star review.

Listen to Arcadia Here (preferred music platform)

****   USE the Playlist play control 2nd left from top of the screen to see the playlisted..tracks and select one to play from the drop down menu  ***  👇

 Arcadia Tracklist

Looks Like The End Of The Road (Jeremy Lister)

The Hangman (Viktor Krauss & Maurice Ogden)

The Wrong Way (Robert Lee Castleman & Dan Tyminski)

Granite Mills (Timothy Eriksen)

One Ray Of Shine (Sarah Siskind & Viktor Krauss)

Richmond On The James (Alison Krauss & G.T. Burgess)

North Side Gal (Jonathan David McPherson)

Forever (Robert Lee Castleman)

Snow (Bob Lucas)

There’s A Light Up Ahead (Jeremy Lister)

REVIEWS

It’s a gorgeous album, and you can only hope that their mammoth 75-concert tour in the States to promote it will be followed by something similar over here. Now, you could wish for a longer record, you could ask for a little more risk-taking, more upbeat tunes,  you could hope for a little stretching out instrumentally or some more prominent fiddle from Krauss herself, but you could not get anything more beautifully produced, no more masterful playing and singing from the very best in their field. At the end of the recording the only thing you want to do is play it all again and wonder at the intricacy of the instrumental arrangements, the subtlety of the voices and harmonies, and rejoice in the release of an album that has been gestating for fourteen years. – 9/10 americana-uk.com

Arcadia shimmers with an incandescent beauty, and every song on Alison Krauss & Union Station’s new album is a little slice of perfection – Folk Alley.

Krauss has talked of how she channels the past when she sings, drawing on “the good old days when times were bad”. Yet many of the songs she picks here – the opening Looks Like The End Of The Road or One Ray Of Shine – relocate perennial bluegrass themes of loss and travail to the present in contemporary confessions of alienation and paths not taken – 4 STARS MOJO.

Considering the immense musical chops of her band members and conventional notions of bluegrass music, there are far fewer up-tempo tunes than some would like, but that’s their mantra. In that sense, the album could benefit from better balance as we deal primarily with ballads through these ten – 7/10 GLIDE 

Airy arrangements, wonderfully agile musicianship, songs pooled from numerous sources into flowing ensemble pieces. [Apr 2025, p.33] 8/10 UNCUT

In choosing to create art to unite instead of divide, Alison Kraus and Union Station once again prove the unshakeable power of not just the bluegrass genre but music overall. 10/10 HOLLER

‘Arcadia' is a testament to Alison Krauss & Union Station’s enduring artistry and their ability to evolve while staying true to their roots. The addition of Russell Moore enriches their sound, offering listeners a fresh yet familiar experience that is both reflective and forward-looking on one of the standout albums of the year and an early shoe-in for GRAMMY awards in 2026. POSITIVE EF COUNTRY

Arcadia follows 2011’s Paper Airplane, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Country, Bluegrass and Folk Charts. But even during the band’s long time apart – each member building a thriving solo career, collaborating with some of the greatest artists in the world, earning a collective total of more than 70 GRAMMY Awards, selling tens of millions of albums – Alison Krauss & Union Station never stopped searching for the music that has now brought them back together.

Written by modern masters such as Robert Lee Castleman, Viktor Krauss, Bob Lucas, JD McPherson and Sarah Siskind, Arcadia’s songs were recorded in studios across Nashville, where Alison Krauss (fiddle, lead vocal), Jerry Douglas (Dobro, lap steel, vocals), Ron Block (banjo, guitar, vocals) and Barry Bales (bass, vocals) welcomed the brand new addition of Russell Moore. On co-lead vocals, guitar and mandolin, Moore joins Union Station as the International Bluegrass Music Association’s most awarded male vocalist of all time, widely known for his legendary work as frontman for the chart-topping group, IIIrd Tyme Out.

Whether on stage or in the studio, each member’s individual talent and acclaim transforms into one single, peerless and unstoppable force – as seen last week, when Alison Krauss & Union Station “stole the show” (American Songwriter) at the Opry 100 celebration. Now featuring Stuart Duncan as a new part of the live band, the performance served as a preview of Alison Krauss & Union Station’s first tour in ten years. Beginning April 17th and continuing through the end of September, with 75+ dates across North America, the Arcadia Tour includes iconic venues like Red Rocks Amphitheatre, LA’s Greek Theatre, NYC’s Beacon Theatre and dozens more, with special guest Willie Watson. See the list of dates below, and find tickets at alisonkrauss.com.  

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