Pop Quiz: Who has taken home more Grammy awards than any other woman in history?

Not Madonna, or even the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. (She has 16). The remarkable answer is Alison Krauss, the elfin, crystal-voiced fiddler from Champaign, Illinois. With a new total of 20 Grammys, she is also now tied for seventh on the all-time winners list, which may explain her acceptance speech for Best Country Album. Krauss took to the podium at the 48th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles alongside Dan Tyminski and Jerry Douglas in a strapless red dress, hair elegantly tousled. She quickly said a few words of thanks with a casual air (been there, done that), then walked offstage just as swiftly as she came. Acceptance speeches must get quicker and easier after the first few Grammy wins.

In high school, while other kids her age were thinking about prom, graduation and maybe college, Krauss was Grammy-bound. Nominated for her first Grammy for Two Highways (1989) at the age of 18, Krauss was already well into a music career that began 10 years earlier with violin lessons. She didn’t win that first year, but I’ve Got That Old Feeling followed in 1990, landing Krauss her first Grammy win, Bluegrass Recording of the Year, for the title track. (It now resides at her parents’ house. Her mantel ran out of room).

She has taken a Grammy home nearly every year since. Some she keeps, while others have found homes with the group’s manager and her parents. This year, Alison Krauss + Union Station were nominated for, and won, 3 awards for their latest Rounder Records release, Lonely Runs Both Ways (2004). The critically acclaimed release peaked at #29 on the Billboard 200 chart on December 11, 2004. Beating out more commercial, well-known county artists like Gretchen Wilson, Faith Hill and the Dixie Chicks at this year’s awards, AKUS took home the Grammy for Best Country Album (Lonely Runs Both Ways), Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (“Restless”) and Best Country Instrumental Performance for the Jerry Douglas-penned “Unionhouse Branch”.

A prodigious young fiddler, Krauss began entering (and winning) talent contests in and around her hometown at eight years old. She won the Illinois State Fiddle Championship at the tender age of 12 and made her debut recording with her brother Viktor just 2 years after. Later that same year, she signed with Rounder Records where she remains today with Union Station. While her look has taken a 180-degree turn in recent years, (the stylishly layered blond shag and halter dresses where the long brown curls and overalls once were), the angelic voice and fiddle virtuosity have held onto a youthful tenderness while picking up tinges of worldly melancholy along the way. But while Krauss maybe the most-recognized face in Union Station, the band isn’t just her backup, they are an all-star team. Each an essential element and in-demand studio musician in Nashville, every member of AKUS brings a unique spark to the group. Dobro virtuoso Douglas has taken home six Grammy awards of his own and six International Bluegrass Music Association Dobro Player of the Year awards. In addition to possessing outstanding mandolin and guitar chops, Dan Tyminski was the singing voice of George Clooney in O Brother, Where Art Thou and lends his warm, clean vocals to many AKUS tracks.

Barry Bales has been holding down the bass line with Union Station since the earliest days in 1990. Songwriter Ron Block, on banjo and guitar, has been with the band for 10 years and has contributed a catalog of songs that often tackle themes of religious faith and devotion, the finest showcase for Krauss’s champagne vocals.

You’d think with so many virtuosos in the room, there would be a constant power struggle for solo time; battles for the spotlight, bruised egos and the temper tantrums that often accompany high-caliber talent. Not so with this troupe.

“Ego never gets in,” Krauss told the New York Post in November, 2004. “That’s the nature of everyone’s personality. We support each other. We all have solo careers outside of the band, but that doesn’t interfere with us together. That’s our mood. Nobody counts solos in our music.” "While Alison finds most of the songs," says Block on the band’s web site, "we all listen to each one, give our opinions, and then begin playing through the song several times. The arrangement takes shape as we play through the song each time; ideas are offered, tried, and discarded or kept."

There is no frontman (or woman), no diva, no solo hogs, just a totally organic growth of music that is phenomenal to behold. Their live performances are spirited and hauntingly beautiful, a perfect blend of instrumentals and vocal songs that showcase Krauss and Tyminski individually and in wonderfully-woven harmonies. For those who can’t make it to a performance, their live album is the next-best way to catch AKUS in the act. Alison Krauss + Union Station: Live (2002) became their second platinum release for good reason. The set list is a flawless compilation of songs from the earliest days through New Favorite (2001). (Their first platinum release, which reached into the pop Top Ten, was Now That I’ve Found You: A Collection).

Alison Krauss + Union Station have set the bar high for bluegrass and acoustic music since the late ‘80s and continue to raise it with Lonely Runs Both Ways. In concert and in the studio, they compliment each other perfectly, old friends who can always finish the other’s sentences. Like marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers, they just go together, blending into something familiar but unique, and deliciously comfortable.