Alison Krauss and Union Station

Ever since Bill Monroe and the Stanley Brothers essentially invented it, bluegrass has been the soul music of white people, and the outfit known to fans as AKUS is a worthy heir to that tradition. Exquisite soulfulness is pervasive in the God-fearing religion they wear on their sleeves and keep in their hearts; it’s also omnipresent in the sublime, string-driven braid of fiddle-dobro-guitar that girds Krauss’s angelic voice on the group’s hoedowns, hymns, and hair-tingling ballads. Purists sniff that they’re too slick and commercial, especially since the Coen brothers’ O Brother, Where Art Thou? movie soundtrack made them a dorm-and-apartment—if not exactly household—name. But listen to Krauss, on fiddle, and dobro maestro Jerry Douglas trade licks on “Unionhouse Branch” and then show me bowers and pluckers in any Appalachian holler who are more pure. 612-624-2345; www.northrop.umn.edu