In addition to being a contest-winning fiddler and an angelic singer, Alison Krauss is also a terrific talent scout. She has assembled a personal stable of the finest songwriters in contemporary bluegrass--John Pennell, Nelson Mandrell, Ron Block, Sidney Cox and Mark Simos--and she has singlehandedly brought Louisiana's wonderful bluegrass/gospel group, the Cox Family, to national prominence. Last year Krauss produced the Cox Family's debut CD, "Everybody's Reaching Out for Someone," and this year she has joined them for a delightful joint gospel album, "I Know Who Holds Tomorrow."
The Cox Family includes daddy Willard, son Sidney and three daughters, Suzanne, Evelyn, and Lynn. All five are solid lead and harmony vocalists, but Suzanne and Evelyn are special singers with the same kind of effortlessly graceful sopranos as Krauss. Between them, Krauss, Suzanne and Evelyn take nine of the dozen lead vocals and with the backing of the Cox Family voices and Krauss' regular musicians, the results are enchantingly lovely. Krauss has picked the hymns from a wide variety of sources--Paul Simon, Loretta Lynn, Thomas Dorsey and Dottie Rambo--but they are united by her tastefully understated acoustic arrangements. Nothing quite captures the mix of hopes and fears that make up gospel music like the duet between Krauss and Evelyn on Lynn's "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven (But Nobody Wants To Die)." --Geoffrey Himes
