LISA DENTON: You know, Barry, with any luck, this could be our last Get Off the Couch column -- assuming we won the Mega Millions jackpot Friday night and can now take career advice from Johnny Paycheck. On the off chance that we weren't the big winners (this section prints before the drawing), we'd better think of a few ways to console ourselves this week. Alison Krauss comes to mind.
BARRY COURTER: It must be confusing for anyone reading this today, because they will likely have seen news reports on Saturday of us doing rude things on camera from the deck of a ship or an island in the Caribbean. I've always wanted one of those big cardboard checks with lots of zeroes. I'm gonna need a bigger wallet.
Anyway, Alison Krauss. Yeah, she and her superstar band -- Jerry Douglas, Dan Tyminski, Ron Block and Barry Bales -- are at the Tivoli Friday and Saturday. Have you noticed that every time her name comes up, someone says, "Voice of an angel"?
LISA: 'Tis true. Even the demons in my head think so. Whoa, where did that come from?
She's definitely bona fide, to borrow a line from "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" I watched that again the other night and was amazed by her singing. My favorite song from the movie is "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow," and Tyminski supplied the vocals for George Clooney on that one.
BARRY: I go back and forth on which is my favorite between that and "Down to the River To Pray" from Krauss. She sang that when she performed here with Robert Plant, and it literally brought tears to my eyes. Gives me goosebumps just remembering it. Just amazing.
LISA: I love that one too. All the layered harmonies. Simply beautiful. But I still give the edge to "Man of Constant Sorrow." You know how I love a man in overalls. Throw in a beard -- even Clooney's fake one -- and I'm all in.
BARRY: Easy girl.
LISA: You need a comma there.
BARRY: So you say.
This is actually a good week with lots to talk about. Turtle Island Quartet is here Tuesday to close out the Patten Performances series at UTC, and the Lookouts open their season at home on Thursday. You can actually see them Tuesday against Chattanooga State in an exhibition game. I wonder if Chatt State's coach, Greg Dennis, will be showing off any dance steps. He teaches dance, I read.
LISA: He might want to show you a Rockettes-style kick right about now.
BARRY: I ain't skeert.