Alison Krauss holds 27 Grammy Awards, trailing only a handful of names in recording history, and she did it with a purely acoustic sound. This episode traces her path from a five-year-old in Champaign, Illinois who hated classical violin lessons and would rather roller skate, to the moment her mother bought her a bluegrass instruction book and a Richard Greene record for a county fair fiddle contest. She ignored the sheet music, learned by ear, placed fourth in the novice category at age eight, and by 13 had won the Walnut Valley Festival fiddle championship.

We follow her early band Union Station, her Rounder Records contract at 16 that required alternating solo and band albums, her first Grammy at 19, and her 1993 Grand Ole Opry induction at a time when the Opry had not added a bluegrass act in 29 years. From there the conversation covers ...