You haven’t truly heard the banjo until you’ve seen Alison Brown pushing the classic five-string instrument into musical territories wholly unexpected. Onstage, the Grammy-winning musician appears calm and collected as she lets the banjo dance in her hands. It’s an instrument she’s been mastering since age eight, after all. In her teens, she began taking her talents on the road, performing at festivals and sweeping up awards at numerous contests, including the Canadian National Banjo Championship, which earned her a gig at Nashville’s legendary Grand Ole Opry. In 1987, she began honing her skills as a member of Alison Krauss’ Union Station. By the ‘90s, she was recording and touring solo, but also expanding her sound with a number of collaborations, working alongside folk singer Michelle Shocked, debuting The Alison Brown Quartet and cofounding Compass Records with her husband Garry West. In the 21st century, she’s shared the stage with pioneering banjoist Béla Fleck, performed at her alma mater Harvard University and brought her genre-blending Quartet to concert halls around the world.

About Alison Brown

With a banjo, Alison Brown can put the most high-tech electric guitar to shame. The Connecticut-born composer, producer, guitarist and banjo virtuoso stirs up elements of jazz, bluegrass, Latin and Celtic music into a vibrant hybrid that’s as cozy as it is fierce. She’s beyond progressive in her approach, transforming homespun melodies into arrangements that rival the most eclectic jazz and classical compositions. Since first picking up the banjo at age eight, she’s been an unstoppable force. Alongside fiddler friend Stuart Duncan, Brown began touring the country as a teenager - even landing a one-night performance at the Grand Ole Opry - but put all that aside to attend Harvard, then UCLA, before stepping into the world of investment banking. Fortunately, for us music lovers, she found her way back to the banjo, joining Alison Krauss' Union Station, then releasing her all-instrumental solo debut, 1990’s Grammy-nominated Simple Pleasures. Since, Brown has continued to refine her technique, diversify her sound, and work with a wide range of artists including Béla Fleck, Mary Chapin Carpenter, David Grisman, the Indigo Girls, Vince Gill and Keb’ Mo’.