''Paper Airplane'' is an album by

Alison Krauss Alison Maria Krauss (born July 23, 1971) is an American bluegrass-country singer and musician. She entered the music industry at an early age, competing in local contests by the age of 8 and recording for the first time at 14. She signed with ...

and

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

. Released on April 12, 2011, it was Krauss's 14th album and her first release with Union Station since ''

Lonely Runs Both Ways ''Lonely Runs Both Ways'' is the twelfth album by bluegrass music group Alison Krauss & Union Station, released November 23, 2004. The album won the band three Grammy Awards in 2006, including Best Country Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocal ...

'' in 2004. It includes cover versions of "My Opening Farewell" and "

Dimming of the Day "Dimming of the Day" is a song written by Richard Thompson and performed with his then-wife Linda Thompson on their 1975 album ''Pour Down Like Silver''. Covers (non-exhaustive list) Dimming of the Day has been covered by: * The Irish band t ...

", originally recorded by

Jackson Browne Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 18 million albums in the United States. Emerging as a precocious teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he h ...

and Richard Thompson, respectively. The album's lead single, the title track, was released to

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

radio and

Adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, 2 ...

radio on March 28, 2011, but failed to

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

. The album was engineered and mixed by

Mike Shipley Michael Shipley (6 October 1956 – 25 July 2013) was an Australian mixing engineer, audio engineer, and record producer. Shipley's music career spanned more than 30 years – mostly working in Los Angeles. At the Grammy Awards of 2012 he ...

, whom Krauss persuaded to return to engineering after a 10‑year absence.

Reception

Critical

Thom Jurek of ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

'' gave ''Paper Airplane'' four-stars, describing it as melancholy, with songs revolving around themes of trial and perseverance. He also praised the cover versions of "Dimming of the Day" and "My Opening Farewell". He considered the album "polished yet authentic".

Andrew Greer Andrew Brooks Greer (born July 10, 1982) is a touring independent singer-songwriter and writer living in Nashville, Tennessee. Background Greer was born in Azle, Texas, on July 10, 1982, the son of Thomas and Jane Greer ('' née'', Girard ...

of ''

Christianity Today ''Christianity Today'' is an evangelical Christian media magazine founded in 1956 by Billy Graham. It is published by Christianity Today International based in Carol Stream, Illinois. ''The Washington Post'' calls ''Christianity Today'' "evange ...

'' also honored ''Paper Airplane'' with four stars, finding it "an exquisite eleven-song canon," and added: "Though their haunts are heavy-hearted, a tangible hope pervades ''Airplane'', attesting to the band's spiritual sensitivity even without the band's usual faith song standout." The album won Grammys for

Best Bluegrass Album The Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works (songs or albums) in the bluegrass m ...

and

Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical The Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical has been awarded since 1959. The award had several minor name changes: * In 1959, the award was known as Best Engineered Record – Non-Classical * In 1960, it was awarded as Best Engineeri ...

Commercial

''Paper Airplane'' sold approximately 83,000 copies during its first week of release, making it Krauss's first number one album on the ''Billboard''

Top Country Albums Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales a ...

chart. It is also the highest entry for Krauss on the ''Billboard'' 200, where it debuted at number three. ''

Raising Sand ''Raising Sand'' is a collaborative studio album by rock singer Robert Plant and bluegrass-country singer Alison Krauss. It was released in October 2007 by Rounder Records. ''Raising Sand'' won Album of the Year at the 2008 Americana Music Hon ...

'', Krauss's collaboration with

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the English rock band Led Zeppelin for all of its existence from 1968 until 1980, when the band broke up following the ...

, reached number two on the ''Billboard'' 200 upon its release in 2007. In addition to these charts, it also debuted at number one on the ''Billboard''

Top Bluegrass Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in '' Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

and number one on ''Billboard''

Folk Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in '' Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

. The album has sold 384,000 copies in the United States as of November 2016. ''Paper Airplane'' was a minor hit in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, debuting in the top forty of several European countries, such as the

Norwegian Albums Chart VG-lista is a Norwegian record chart. It is presented weekly in the newspaper '' VG''. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continents around the world. The data are collected by Nie ...

. It became Krauss' most successful album in the UK, reaching number 11 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

(overtaking 2009's compilation '' Essential Alison Krauss'', which reached number 13) and earning a silver certification from the BPI.

Track listing

Personnel

– lead vocals, background vocals, fiddle *

Dan Tyminski Daniel John Tyminski (born June 20, 1967) is an American bluegrass composer, vocalist, and instrumentalist. He is a member of Alison Krauss's band Union Station, and has released three solo albums, ''Carry Me Across the Mountain'' (2000), on ...

– lead vocals, background vocals, acoustic guitar, mandolin *

Ron Block Ronald Franklin Block (born July 30, 1964) is an American banjo player, guitarist, and singer-songwriter, best known as a member of the bluegrass band Alison Krauss & Union Station. He has won 14 Grammy Awards, 6 International Bluegrass Music A ...

– acoustic guitar, banjo *

Jerry Douglas Gerald Calvin "Jerry" Douglas (born May 28, 1956) is an American Dobro and lap steel guitar player and record producer. Career In addition to his fourteen solo recordings, Douglas has played on more than 1,600 albums. As a sideman, he has ...

– background vocals, dobro *

Barry Bales Barry Turner Bales (born August 23, 1969 in Kingsport, Tennessee, United States) is an American musician best known as the long time bass player and harmony vocalist for Alison Krauss and Union Station. He has been in the band for around 25 years. ...

– background vocals, upright bass *

– engineer, mixer *

Brad Blackwood Brad Blackwood is an American audio mastering audio engineer, engineer. He has mastered albums for artists such as Maroon 5, Against Me, Lamb of God (band), Lamb of God, Black Eyed Peas, Sara Bareilles, and is a 17 time Grammy nominee and 3-time win ...

– mastering engineer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

{{Authority control 2011 albums Alison Krauss & Union Station albums Rounder Records albums Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical