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Alison Brown Quartet
Published: August 2003
Story: Jeff Royer
Photo: Press photo |
"Certainly, the stereotypical image of the banjo can use a facelift,"
says Grammy-winning banjo starlett Alison Brown. "Most people still
think of it as 'Beverly Hillbillies,' kind of the real hayseed sort
of image, even though there have been innovators on the instrument
really since the mid-'70s."
As frontwoman for the aptly named Alison Brown Quartet, Brown is
doing her share to help update bluegrass's bare-feet-and-overalls
image. By incorporating elements of jazz, Latin, and Celtic music
into the bluegrass paradigm, Brown and company are flirting with a
new genre of acoustic-based country music that goes just as nicely
with a carafe of wine as it does a jug of bathtub hooch.
"When people think of what we do as something contributing to that
cause, it makes me feel really good," Brown says to the Fly, "because
I think the banjo is a really versatile instrument, and really, its
limitations are only in the hands of the person who's playing it."
Brown may be the least likely star of the new acoustic movement. A
former investment banker, her resume includes two degrees from
Harvard and a master's in business from UCLA. Not many banjo players
to hit the Grand Ole Opry stage have done a stint structuring bond
issues. But the truth is, while her nose was buried in her ledger
books, Brown's heart already belonged to the deep South.
As a teenager, Brown eschewed the folk boom surrounding her in 1960s
California for the finger-pickin' goodness of Bill Monroe and Flatt &
Scruggs. When asked what made her gravitate towards the banjo, Brown
replies with a giggle, "The banjo did. I think it just kind of picked
me out. I just love the sound of the instrument. Like you were
saying, there's really no kind of cultural reason or family reason
for me to have fallen in love with it, but I just did. I think it's
part of the magic of bluegrass music."
By the age of 14, Brown was already taking first place at contests
like the Canadian National Banjo Championship. But at the time, it
just wasn't possible to make a living toting a banjo around America,
so off to Harvard she went.
By the time she was crunching numbers as a banker, Brown decided she
was ready to take a chance on music. And guess what? It paid off. She
took a six-month sabbatical from work to concentrate solely on the
banjo, and, in the 11th hour, was approached by bluegrass queen
Alison Krauss. "Alison was looking for a banjo player. She just
thought to call me up and give me a try for the weekend, and when it
worked out, it turned into a three-year gig," Brown recalls. "It was
great because it literally came at the end of my sabbatical. I almost
was going to go back and do another real job, and I was spared!"
Fame came quickly. Before long, Brown began experimenting with the
bluegrass hybrid that has since made her a star. As she shattered the
banjo stereotype, the accolades came rolling in. In addition to
pulling in a Grammy, Brown became the first woman to receive the
Banjo Player of the Year award from the International Bluegrass Music
Association.
"I started trying to write my own music, and as I did that I found
out it came out every which way except bluegrass," Brown admits.
"Since I'm doing three-finger bluegrass-style playing, that thread
sort of weaves through all the stuff we do as a quartet. ... [But] I
didn't grow up in southern Appalachia ... so my music tends to
incorporate a lot of the things I was exposed to growing up in
southern California, which is really a little bit of everything."
But, for all of her experimenting, Brown still has a passion for the
traditional bluegrass sound that first stole her heart. In fact - and
despite the fact that the quartet's latest release could almost have
been stocked in the "jazz" section - Brown has brought her live show
nearly full-circle.
"We're really kind of going for a more acoustic, folk-oriented
approach," she explains. "We're just using all acoustic instruments,
a stripped-down drum kit, and really trying to make the music as ...
well, 'palatable' is one word ... so as not to scare away people who
come to see us who are bluegrass fans and folk music fans who might
otherwise not be that hip to big drum sounds with splashy cymbals.
... So in that way, what we're doing is kind of coming back to the
beginning."
Brown expects to return to the studio this winter to record the
band's next project. The album will be released on Brown's own
Compass Records, a relatively successful, Nashville-based
independent label with over 100 releases and counting. (All of
Brown's business training didn't go to waste after all!)
Until then, the itinerary reads "Tour, tour, tour." But, with her
husband by her side playing bass and their 1-year-old daughter in
tow, the prospect of being on the road doesn't bother Brown at all.
"I couldn't imagine it any other way, actually," she says. "I still
am really tickled to get to play music and just hang out with people
who come from this part of the country where the music originated. It
really means a lot."
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