It’s been decades since Brown’s first Opry appearance and her stint as banjo player for bluegrass-pop hit machine Union Station. In the meantime, she’s explored jazz, occasionally switching to guitar, but it’s her forays into bluegrass and Celtic music that shine brightest. The Grammy winner — for a collaboration with Béla Fleck, a somewhat funkier kindred soul — brings her quartet to the Ogle Center on the IUS campus Thursday. Onstage, Brown fuses progressive sounds with sweet traditions; offstage, she’s been a progressive force in a conservative industry. Early on, she took advantage of her experience from a day job in finance to lay a solid foundation for her own label. Years later, Compass Records is still finding and fostering Americana-with-something-extra talent. —T.E. Lyons