Ravinia 2025 Issue 3

This Is It DAN TYMINSKI AND RONNIE BAKER BROOKS NEVER FRETTED THEIR MUSICAL FOCUS TWO of the very best guitar men will be the whole show on the Carousel Stage in July. Both are making their Ravinia solo debuts. BYDONALDLIEBENSON “ Who draws the crowd and plays so loud Baby it’s the guitar man Who’s gonna steal the show You know, baby, it’s the guitar man. ” –David Gates, “Guitar Man” DAN TYMINSKI (July 8) is no stranger to the festival. The multi-instrumentalist has performed at Ravinia with Alison Krauss & Union Station, which he joined in 1992. That band reunited last year for its first recording in 14 years, Arcadia , on which Tyminski does not sing, but co-wrote and plays on one song. It was during the album’s sessions that he announced he was leaving the band to focus on his solo career. “Dan had been doing his solo music for a while as we’d been off and not playing together,” Krauss told Rolling Stone . “So, he had a lot of things he’d been doing. And when we got back together, he was very proud of what he was doing. When we look back through that process, it doesn’t seem that shocking he wanted to stay with that.” “Nobody wanted Dan to go,” Union Station dobro master Jerry Douglas echoed to the New York Times . “But Dan’s got a thing he’s got to go do, and we all respect that.” Tyminski is one of bluegrass music’s most illustrious am- bassadors. He has won 14 Grammy Awards for his group and solo work. He is perhaps best known for his instantly iconic performance of “Man of Constant Sorrow” on the soundtrack for the 2000 Coen Brothers classic O Brother, Where Art Thou? , one of only four soundtracks to win a Grammy for Album of the Year. Tyminski himself took home the Grammy for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. Tyminski has also taken bluegrass into uncharted waters. In 2013, he collaborated with Swedish producer and DJ Avicii on the song “Hey Brother.” Tyminski, unfamiliar with electronic dance music (EDM), was initially reluctant until his daughter compelled him to accept the offer. “I grew up in kind of a bluegrass bubble,” Tyminski told MusicTech . “I listened to one style of music and that was pretty much it. At the time, my daughter was 19, and she listened to every type of music. I knew that she would know who [Avicii] was. So, I texted her. She responded immediately, she said: ‘Swedish DJ. He’s a genius. He’s my favorite artist. … If you don’t do this, I’m out.’ ” “Hey Brother” has since tallied more than a billion streams. But the bluegrass roots are strong in Tyminski. The Ver- mont native attended bluegrass concerts with his parents when he was six years old. He initially played the banjo and as a teen toured with the Green Mountain Bluegrass band with his older brother, Stan. He later joined the award-winning Lonesome River Band before making what he has called the “wrenching” decision to join Union Station. RAVINIAMAGAZINE • JUNE 30 – JULY 20, 2025 16 JEFFFASANO