LITTLE ROCK — Alison Krauss and her four-man string band were never louder Friday night than when they paused for applause.
“Gorgeous!” one man shouted.
“Been a little while since we been through here,” Krauss said, “but it’s good to be back.”
“I love you,” another man shouted.
“I love you, too,” guitarist Dan Tyminski shouted back.
Krauss and Union Station played an hour-and-a-half, stopping only for a brief, quasi-intermission that dobro player Jerry Douglas freestyled through. Krauss’ voice was as winsome as a mailman’s whistle caught through a hedgerow.
They took their first bow after Tyminski’s “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow” and Krauss’ “Oh Atlanta,” but the act didn’t exit the stage before Tyminski picked up the guitar again and accompanied Krauss, along with Ron Block, on “When You Say Nothing at All.”
They played hits “Whiskey Lullaby,” an a cappella “Down to the River to Pray” and a couple more before finally calling it quits at about two hours.
The Robinson Auditorium setting was intimate but relaxed. There were a number of toe-tappers and knee-slappers in the set. If anyone got up to dance, they did so in the lobby.
“I have acquired a card that allows me to shop in bulk. So, now I shop in bulk,” Krauss told the crowd at the first break in the music. “How many cans of condensed milk does one person need ... ? But you know, I got some Mini-Wheats.
“I tell you what, it’s a thrill if you’ve ever shopped in bulk. Ron [Block], do you shop in bulk?”
Friday night was the kick-start of the spring tour, and Block and the other members of Union Station joked that, as the tour develops, Krauss will no doubt find new, even edgier subjects for interstitials between songs.
She will. She must.