Allison Krauss & Union Station sailed smoothly at The Rady Shell with Jerry Douglass and Willie Watson.
On Saturday July 12th Allison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglass with special guest Willie Watson brought their Arcadia 2025 Tour to The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park. Located at the beautiful Embarcadero Marina Park South, The Rady Shell offers a truly breathtaking concert experience located centrally near downtown with beautiful views of the San Diego Bay. The sound at the Shell on this crystal clear night was simply superb, with the band’s beautiful vocal harmonies and acoustic instruments all ringing out discernibly clear, by way of the venues impressive Meyer Constellation sound system. Celebrating nearly four decades as a band, Allison Krauss and Union Station are touring in support of their latest album 2025’s Arcadia, their first in nearly fourteen years. The band has recently regrouped and is out on a huge US Summer Tour with stops across the eastern United States scheduled until late September.
Willie Watson is a singer-songwriter, banjo player, and actor who has been releasing albums since 2014 and helped found the band Old Crow Medicine Show. His opening performance on this evening was a beautiful display of acoustic guitar and folk music, accompanied by a wonderful violin player named Sami Braman. Braman’s playing was so soulful and magnetic, it was incredible the emotion she evoked out of the wailing of her fiddle. It rang clearly out across the reflective water of the bay. As Watson warmed up the expansive Shell crowd with his charismatic demeanor and the audience filled in the venue, luxury yachts could also be seen falling into position in with a clear view of the Shell’s large LED video screens. Watson told stories and sang throughout his short set, and the two person group was a wonderful introduction to the evening. Willie Watson may most famously be known as the character “The Kid” from the Coen Brother’s 2018 film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Watson performed a beautiful rendition of his song from the film “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” written by Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings.
Allison Krauss & Union Station performed an expansive thirty three song set on this evening, featuring a wide variety of bluegrass and country music. Commenting on San Diego’s beauty and the lush venue, Krauss led the evening by calling for a future residency at the venue, a sentiment cheered on by the large and enthusiastic crowd. The band’s set list included originals and covers highlighting all of the band’s members and giving everyone on stage time to shine. Allison Krauss, the band’s namesake was the main vocalist and fiddle player, Russell Moore is on vocals and guitar, Ron Block (A San Diego native with family in attendance) played guitar and banjo, Barry Bales was on upright bass, Jerry Douglas performed on the dobro (a type of resonating guitar), and Stuart Duncan played fiddle. Highlight’s of the group’s set included “Ghost in This House” a Shenandoah cover, “Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground” by Willie Nelson, and a passionate combo from Jerry Douglass of Paul Simon’s “Amercian Tune,” into a bold cover of Chick Correa’s “Spain” performed solo on stage.
This whole band is absolutely jaw dropping to listen to, they are all-star caliber players with each member clearly brining years of musical and vocal mastery to the stage. After having performed together for so many years, and even coming back together now after a decade plus hiatus, this group of expert musicians seem to almost sense where the others are going, passing back and forth riffs and call and response moments inside of their elaborate solos. The group performed acoustically and honestly, alone on stage with no backing tracks or auto-tune magic, and they absolutely rocked the Rady Shell. The members were so in sync and in control that their five part harmonies, incredibly fast string plucking, and intricate rhythms seemed almost effortless. An encore of beautiful covers and originals was sung together by the group Acapella around one microphone on stage and was one of the most beautiful moments of the evening. “When You Say Nothing at All” “Whiskey Lullaby” “When He Reached Down His Hand for Me” and the last song “There is a Reason” were showstoppers and garnered a standing ovation. This show is a spectacular experience and a must see for any fans of bluegrass, country, or just wonderfully crafted music.
