DESPITE her apparent success, there is nothing affected or superficial about Alison Krauss. The woman from Decatur, Illinois, is as folksy as they come and treats the full house as if it was her neighbours sitting on her back porch sipping hooch, listening to songs of cryin', losin', and hopin'.

This down home attitude doesn't necessarily fit with the reality of a whiz kid, a child, prodigy who won her first fiddle contest when she was 10, who signed to the bluegrass record label Rounder at 14, and who won her first Grammy, five years later. Krauss is obviously a country girl whose heart and head have refused to disconnect.

And she can sing as well, her voice as much an instrument as her fiddle playing.

On songs such as A Winter Of Broken Heart, Steel Rails, A Ghost In This House and the exquisite When You Say Nothing At All, Krauss breaks through the occasionally intimidating array of instrumental prowess on display with such pitch perfect clarity that one wonders why she doesn't escape more often. Destined to break down steely emotional resistance, songs like these provide the requisite calm before the storm of banjo and mandolin flurries.

"We like to go from a song of hope to one of death and destruction" was one of Alison's several relevant pointers during the evening, a telling if somewhat general statement on the nature of what lies at the core of genuine country music.

Her background and demeanour may be those of the hunky dory, girl next door type, but her eyes, ears, and emotions tell her of cracks beneath the surface.

Alison Krauss may be bluegrass orientated, but she's bound for massive mainstream success. A role model in the making, and she's only 25.