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Alison Brown

Women Smashing the Bluegrass Glass Ceiling

16 Sep, 19 by Greg McGrath 3 Comments

Bluegrass is often maligned either as one of the whitest American music genres, or one of the most male-dominated. Certainly, the main foundational figures of bluegrass were all men such as Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, Lester Flatt, Jimmy Martin, Ralph Stanley. Nevertheless, women have played a significant part of bluegrass music from the very beginning.

Let’s take Sally Ann Forrester who played accordion in Bill Monroe’s first band, and later with exceptional pioneers such as Louise Scruggs, Earl’s wife and a powerful businesswoman in the bluegrass music industry. Then we have Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard, a duo most often quoted as paving the way for women in bluegrass music.

Today, it’s not as hard to point to powerful and hugely successful women in bluegrass music, from Alison Krauss who has received more Grammy nominations than any other female artist, to popular Americana artists like Sierra Hull, Sarah Jarosz or Sara Watkins, both of whom emerged in the bluegrass scene at young ages.

Let’s not forget that here is the southern hemisphere we have New Zealand’s Hot Diggity featuring Deborah Mackenzie, Jenine Abarbanel, Heather Carrigan, Sue Drake and Slávka Franclíková.

Read more of this amazing article here.

We also have Wayward Angles from Queensland featuring Kay Armstrong on banjo, Jody Bell on mandolin, Brenda “Lee” Kelly on guitar and Anne-Marie Lawton on double bass.

Filed Under: Artists, Headline News, International News Tagged With: Alison Brown, Hot Diggity, Sarah Hull, Wayward Angels

Alison Brown to Deliver Keynote Address at IBMA

23 Aug, 19 by Greg McGrath Leave a Comment

The IBMA has announced the 2019 keynote address speaker.  Grammy winning banjo player and IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award recipient Alison Brown​ will deliver the Keynote Address at this year’s ​IBMA Business Conference​ to be held on Tuesday 24th September, at the Raleigh Convention Center in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina.

The keynote kicks off IBMA’s week-long annual ​World of Bluegrass​ event, brought to you by Chiesi USA and taking place from 24th to 28th September in Raleigh, North Carolina.

In her scheduled address, Four and a Half Things I’ve Learned, the Compass Records co-founder will share insights she’s gained over the past 25 years at the helm of one of roots music’s most successful independent labels.

​I had the honor of giving the IBMA keynote address 17 years ago. Although we weren’t aware of it at the time, we were in the waning days of the record business as we knew it. Since then, the music industry has undergone a radical transformation in the way music is sold and consumed. All of the players in the ecosystem, from the record labels to the retailers, to the artists and the fans, have been affected. I look forward to sharing some of my thoughts about where we are at this juncture and how to keep bluegrass music healthy and thriving in the current landscape – Alison Brown.

Alison Brown has taken an unlikely path in establishing herself as one of the most critically acclaimed banjoists in the world. One of the more multi-faceted minds in roots music, Alison is a former investment banker (with an AB from Harvard and an MBA from UCLA), a Grammy winner, USA Artists fellow and co-founder of Nashville-based Compass Records Group which is home to the Compass Records, Red House Records, Green Linnet and Mulligan Records catalogs.

In 2015, Alison received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association for the furtherance of bluegrass music. In 2019 she will become the newest inductee into the American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame for Five String Banjo Performance.

Register for the 2019 Conference here.

Filed Under: Headline News, IBMA News Tagged With: Alison Brown

Special Consensus – Long I Ride

12 Jun, 16 by Greg McGrath

LongIRideSpecial Consensus has announced their new album celebrating 40 years.

Long I Ride celebrates Special Consensus’ 40th anniversary as a band with an engaging set of songs and guest collaborations that is certain to garner more acclaim. The title track, written by former band member Robbie Fulks, showcases each of the three vocalists in the group including newcomer/mandolinist Nick Dumas. Bluegrass favourites Della Mae join the band for a fresh take on the Larry Cordle classic “Highway 40 Blues” and label mates Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley, together with producer/banjoist Alison Brown, deliver a blistering version of the Josh Graves penned standard “Fireball.” Other stand outs include a bluegrass version of Stoney LaRue’s “First One to Know” featuring a guest vocal appearance from Mountain Faith’s Summer McMahan and a western swing tinged Joe Newberry original “Baby I’m Blue” featuring the twin fiddles of Buddy Spicher and Matt Combs. Long I Ride follows on the heels of Special Consensus’ guest laden, multi-award winning album Country Boy: A Bluegrass Tribute to John Denver.

The band was founded in 1975 by banjoist (and former IBMA President) Greg Cahill and has since then become the breeding ground for some of the best new talent in bluegrass. The current lineup features Rick Faris (guitar, vocals), Nick Dumas (mandolin, vocals), Dan Eubanks (bass, vocals) and banjoist/founder Greg Cahill.

Track Listing:

1. Long I Ride
2. Life Stories
3. Highway 40 Blues
4. New Shenandoah
5. First One to Know
6. Fireball
7. Where the Wild River Rolls
8. Jesus is My Rock
9. Baby I’m Blue
10. Time for Movin’ On

Tour Dates:

6/11 – Culver City, CA – Boulevard Music
6/12 – National City, CA – Sweetwater Union High
6/13 – Las Vegas, NV – Starbright Theater
6/26 – Mundelein, IL – Village of Mundelein
7/07 – Countryside, IL – Countryside Park
7/12 – Libertyville, IL – Independence Grove
7/14 – Arlington Heights, IL – Harmony Park @ Harmony Park
7/31 – Elkins, WV – Davis & Elkins College
8/10 – Red Lodge, MT – Bull & Bear
8/11 – Cody, WY – City Park
8/12 – Carbondale, CO – Steve’s Guitars
8/19 – Three Lakes, WI – Three Lakes Cntr. for Arts
 8/21 – Long Grove, IL – Fountain Square
8/25 – Lakeside, OH – Hoover Auditorium
10/14 – Nashville, TN – The Station Inn
10/15 – Delphi, IN – Delphi Opera House
11/18 – Shepherdsville, KY – Friday Night Bluegrass

Filed Under: Artists, CD Releases, International News Tagged With: Alison Brown, Rob Ickes, Special Consensus

Alison Brown Interview

13 Jul, 10 by Greg McGrath

Banjo player Alison Brown spent her her teenage years  in Alison Krauss’ band and now runs her own successful record label, Compass Records, with her husband Garry West.

Alison Brown by Carol Rifkin for North Carolina’s Acheville Citizen Times.

Read the full interview at www.citizen-times.com.

Filed Under: International News, Promotions Tagged With: Alison Brown

Alison Brown on Mountain Stage

10 Nov, 09 by Greg McGrath

Alison Brown is a Harvard university graduate and a Grammy winner who moved her career focus from investment banking to music.

Alison came to our attention when she joined Alison Krauss’ Union Station and went of to become  bandleader for Michelle Shocked.  Alison Brown now heads her own acoustic-jazz band in her third appearance on Mountain Stage.  She is joined by John Burr on piano, Larry Atamanuik on drums and her husband Gary West on bass.

Visit Alison Brown on the Mountain Stage

Filed Under: Artists, CD Releases Tagged With: Alison Brown, Mountain Stage

Bluegrass Sisterhood – Wall St. Journal

17 Jul, 09 by Greg McGrath

SisterhoodAlison Brown, Dale Ann Bradley, and Missy Raines were all recently featured in Barry Mazor’s The Sisterhood of Bluegrass article for The Wall Street Journal. The article focuses on the tradition of women in bluegrass and how each Alison, Dale Ann, and Missy came to playing their own version of bluegrass but by taking very different paths. Compass Records’ 15-year anniversary and the new albums from Alison, Dale Ann, and Missy are also highlighted.

  • The full article online by clicking here.
  • Click here to sample tracks from Alison Brown’s new album, The Company You Keep.
  • Click here to sample tracks from Dale Ann Bradley’s new album, Don’t Turn Your Back.
  • Click here to sample tracks from Missy Raines’ new album, Inside Out.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Alison Brown, Dale Ann Bradley, Missy Raines

Alison Brown in Space

14 May, 09 by Greg McGrath

alisonbrownAlison Brown’s new album, The Company You Keep, traveled into space this week with astronaut John Grunsfeld aboard space shuttle Atlantis.

Grammy-award winning banjoist Alison Brown is a big hit with astronauts. Mission Specialist John Grunsfeld chose to take a physical copy (an interesting fun fact as most astronauts carry only iPods during missions) of her new album on today’s final Hubble repair visit after fellow astronaut Marsha Ivins hipped him to Brown’s signature hybrid banjo sound a few space missions back.

Grunsfeld couldn’t get Brown’s tunes out of his head, so he saved up his first listen of The Company You Keep for orbit. This is the fourth time Brown’s music has journeyed into space as Mission Control has chosen 3 of her tunes as wake-up calls for the astronauts on past shuttle missions.

Click here to listen to samples from The Company You Keep.

Filed Under: Artists Tagged With: Alison Brown

Alison Brown CD – Number 10 on Billboard

26 Apr, 09 by Greg McGrath

Compass Records released Alison Brown’s new CD, The Company You Keep, on 7th April 7th and it debuted at #8 on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart this week.

Brown is a GRAMMY award winning banjo player and co-founder of Compass Records. The Company You Keep is her tenth album and was released in tandem with Compass Records’ 15-year anniversary.

Filed Under: Artists Tagged With: Alison Brown

The Company You Keep – Alison Brown

12 Mar, 09 by Greg McGrath

alisonbrownCompass Records announces Alison Brown CD will be released on April 7, 2009 and will ship that week or before.

The title of Alison Brown’s new studio release The Company You Keep was originally inspired by the words of Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes (Don Quixote): Tell me the company you keep and I’ll tell you what you are. But it wasn’t until the project began to develop that she realized the title actually held two separate, but equally important, meanings for her and for her music.

I’ve been writing, recording and performing my own tunes for nearly 20 years now, and as I thought about the progression of my sound – our band sound – I began to think about what a collaborative effort this musical journey has been. After 15 years of recording, performing and philosophizing about music with (pianist) John R Burr and (bassist) Garry West, I really wanted to draw that collaborative spirit to the forefront on this album. Alison Brown

The Company You Keep features the musicians she has spent most of the past 15 years performing with: John R. Burr (piano), Garry West (bass), David Grisman Quintet alum Joe Craven (fiddle/mandolin/percussion) and Larry Atamanuik (drums) alongside guests John Doyle (guitar), Stuart Duncan (fiddle) and Kenny Malone (drums) on a set of engaging, upbeat and melodic tunes, many of which were co-written by Brown and Burr.

Filed Under: CD Releases Tagged With: Alison Brown

Alison Brown Quartet – ‘Evergreen’ CD Release

30 Nov, 08 by Greg McGrath

Alison and the band went into the Compass studio to record some of their favorite tunes from their Winter’s Eve holiday program and the result is Evergreen. This 10-track collection (expanded and repackaged from the 2007 EP version) includes fun and imaginative re-workings of holiday classics with that distinctive Alison Brown Quartet sound. Fiddler/mandolinist Joe Craven is the special guest throughout and singers from the University School of Nashville joins the band on 2 tracks.

You can hear samples of the new CD at Compass Records
Submitted from Compass Records

Filed Under: CD Releases Tagged With: Alison Brown

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