The Pantagraph du lieu suivant : Bloomington, Illinois • Page 29

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 24-30 CRITIC'S CHOICE I TV TALK SHOWS SPEAKING OF SOAPS TV -Radio Guide RADIO HIGHLIGHTS REPORT ON RADIO A Alison fiddles better than anyone else By ELAINE GRAYBILL Pantagraph staff ALISON KRAUSS HAD just gotten home from school and was watching "'The Brady Bunch" when 1 I called her in Champaign Wednesday. Thirteen-year-olds get a lot of bad press, but Alison was good-natured about not being able to finish her television show, and she willingly told me almost everything I wanted to know. The words "prodigy" and "virtuoso" never came up in our conversation, but it's safe to say that's what Alison is. In September, she won a fiddle contest in Winfield, considered by many bluegrass musicians to be the national championship. Winfield wasn't a fluke.

Alison also has won the Illinois and Indiana state fiddle championships this year, and a few others, too. She competes against adults in these contests. Her next big challenge is the Tennessee State championship in April. Being called a virtuoso would embarrass Alison. I apologize, Alison.

Thirteen-year-old girls generally want to be as much as possible like everyone else. So when I asked Alison how much she practiced her violin when she took classical lessons starting at age 5, and how much she practices now, she wouldn't tell me. I rephrased the question, and she still wouldn't tell me. She giggled sheepishly over this refusal, and made a few comments that made it clear that what she is trying to keep quiet is how little she has had to practice through the years. ALISON DID ACKNOWLEDGE that she caught on "right away" when she started playing a child-size violin eight years ago.

She began the private lessons because "it was required" by her parents, Fred and Louise. "We had to take some instrument." Her brother, Vik, 15, plays bass, and favors rock and jazz. TV CHANNELS (2) WBBM, Chicago (CBS) (3) WCIA, Champaign (CBS) (5) WMAQ, Chicago (NBC) (7) WLS, Chicago (ABC) (9) WGN, Chicago (Ind.) (10C) B-N Tele Cable (12) WILL, Urbana (PBS) (15) WICD, Champaign (NBC) (17) WAND, Decatur (ABC) (19) WRAU, Creve Coeur (ABC) (20) WICS, Springfield (NBC) (23) WFHL, Decatur (Ind.) (25) WEEK, East Peoria (NBC) (31) WMBD, Peoria (CBS) (32) WFLD, Chicago (Ind.) (43) WBLN, Bloomington (Ind.) (47) WTVP, Peoria (PBS) (55) WRSP, Springfield (Ind.) (CBN) Virginia Beach, Va. (ESPN) Sports network (USA) Sports network (WTBS) Atlanta, Ga. (Ind.) Indicates a program carries closed caption subtitles for viewers with impaired hearing.

Saturday, Nov. 24, 1984 Alison Krauss, center, is the nationally recognized fiddle player with Silver Rail, which will appear Dec. 9 in Normal. Classical violin turned to bluegrass fiddle when Alison was 8, and entered a "little county fair contest," with her mother's encouragement. She decided bluegrass was her kind of music.

By age 10, she was playing fiddle and singing with the Marvin Lee country and western dance band. Around age 11, she discontinued the violin lessons. In February she began playing with Silver Rail, a bluegrass band in her hometown. She sings, too, with a voice her mother describes as "very fine," and that another person describes as sounding like Emmy Lou Harris. But Alison claims she's "not any Ethel Merman." Even Alison, with her modesty, was impressed by something that happened at the Winfield contest.

Randy Howard is her favorite bluegrass fiddler. "He's my idol." Listening to his album has helped her The Violet Garden 1510 S. East Bloomington (North of Tiara Ballroom) Phone 828-6967 Hours: 9 to 5, Sat. 9 to 4 Choose from thousands of BIG-BEAUTIFUL-BLOOMING AFRICAN VIOLETS The Video Selection THE "The Finest Selection in Town" VIDEO Located in Colonial Plaza SELECTION 3 663-5712 Wide Selection All Ratings Mon. thru Wed.

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He came in second place in the contest. "That was pretty weird, because I played his stuff," she said. She had gone into the contest expecting him to win it. ALISON HAS OUTGROWN her child-size violin in many ways, one of which is quite literal. Her parents bought her a fiddle a year ago September that was handmade in Missouri.

The price of that fiddle is the other thing Alison wouldn't tell. "We got it the day it was born, as my mom says." She played it in a contest while the varnish was still wet. The pattern of her shirt left an imprint on the instrument, and "my chin went green." "It smelled good for a long time." Alison's parents take an active role in her career. Mrs. Krauss is a musician, too, but showing the same modest humor as Alison, would say only she plays "poorly" when asked what instrument she specializes in.

Alison says her mother is a "vegetarian," which is what Alison calls folk musicians when she's not calling them "bean sprouts" or "natural cookies" with just a little disparagement. Her parents are with her when she plays at clubs, late at night. "Love it, love it, it's just great," she says about those performances. She has no favorite songs. She likes them all.

Alison will bring her enthusiasm to Normal when she performs with Silver Rail at 7:15 p.m., Dec. 9, at Radio Station WGLT's "Alive Pickin" Christmas Concert in Kemp Hall on the Illinois State University campus. Tickets are available at Bernardi Printers, Roper Acoustics and The Garlic Press, all downtown Normal; the station's "Friends" reception p.m. Dec. 3 at Ewing Manor), and at the door.

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