There are few people in the world who could make a credible case for needing a room in their home devoted to storing their Grammy Awards, but Alison Krauss is one of them.
The bluegrass songstress now has a record-setting 26 Grammys, but when resonator-guitar virtuoso Jerry Douglas met her at the onset of her professional career 25 years ago, she was just a nervous 14-year-old girl.
"We met at Bela Fleck's house, and Sam (Bush) and Bela and I sat there to listen to Alison sing and play," said Mr. Douglas, who has been a member of Ms. Krauss' backing band, Union Station, since 1998. "I know it was embarrassing to her - she doesn't like to talk about it - but it was amazing.
"It was obvious to us that she was really something."
Mr. Douglas and Ms. Krauss have been putting the finishing touches on an as-yet-untitled project to be released early next year. It will be Union Station's first studio album since 2004's "Lonely Runs Both Ways."
Tonight, Ms. Krauss and company will take the Coke Stage as the Riverbend headliner. Their performance is one of only two shows the band is slated to play this year (the other is Colorado's Telluride Bluegrass Festival later this month).
Mr. Douglas said the plan is to play songs drawn from a sweep of about 20 albums, including several cuts culled from work by other Union Station members, many of whom, like Mr. Douglas, are critically acclaimed solo artists.
The careers of Union Station members have been given plenty of time during the two years the band has been off the road.
In that time, guitarist/banjoist Ron Block and guitarist/mandolinist Dan Tyminski put out an album apiece, Mr. Douglas released a pair, and Ms. Krauss teamed up with Robert Plant and T Bone Burnett on "Raising Sand," a critical darling that buttressed her collection with five more Grammys.
Despite a healthy amount of critical praise heaped on their solo endeavors, Mr. Douglas said being part of Union Station is understanding who the spotlight is going to seek out first.
"When you've got somebody like (Ms. Krauss), why not go ahead and let her sing?" Mr. Douglas said, laughing. "I know, when we walk out onstage, that the focus is on her.
"We're selling her voice, and it's a pretty easy thing to do."