Over the years sensational banjo player Alison Brown has broken recognised boundaries with this unpretentious instrument. Playing in Alison Krauss' bluegrass band Union Station from 1989 to 1991, Brown won the International Bluegrass Music Association's Banjo Player of the Year award in her final year with the band, the first time a female has won Best Instrumentalist.

Pushing the banjo away from it's familiar settings of Appalachian and bluegrass music, Alison has ventured into new musical territories by drawing great appeal from the fans of jazz-hued acoustic music and toured with Michelle Shocked, playing banjo, acoustic and electric guitars, as well as the dobro. Since then she has recorded and toured with her own band, known simply as the Alison Brown Quartet. Her first solo album Simple Pleasures, earned Alison a Grammy nomination and now with a return to her bluegrass roots (Alison Brown's latest album Fair Weather), Alison garners a further two Grammy nominations: Best Bluegrass Album for Fair Weather and Best Country Instrumental Performance for, Leaving Cottondale - Alison Brown with Béla Fleck. Alison says of 'Leaving Cottondale': "It was one that I put on my first record. Then I went over to Japan and met this Japanese banjo player, who'd written a harmony banjo part for it. We'd played it together and felt it was pretty cool. So I had it at the back of my mind to redo that tune as a twin banjo tune. There hasn't been very many twin banjo tunes recorded lately."

Alison Brown at Sheffield, UK
(Interview with AB)

A short tour of the UK by Brown, drew a full house and the opportunity for me to catch her performance at the Pheasant Inn, Sheffield. Opening the evening was Britain's own bluegrass legend Tom Travis ably assisted by Bill Forster on banjo and Brian Booth on bass. This polished trio offered a breathtaking set of traditional bluegrass in it's purest form, featuring traditional bluegrass favourites such as Flatt & Scruggs 'Some Old Days', 'I'll Break Out Again Tonight' and 'When The Bees Are In The Hive' from the all-time bluegrass master Bill Monroe. Tom offered a sensational version of the emotive story-song 'Rebel Soldier', with it's visions of a Confederate soldier laying and dying in a Yankee prison. As the parson stands by to help the unfortunate dying man into the next world, the soldiers only concern is to know that his soul with travel back home to the South and once again walk around the fields of his beloved Virginia and Georgia. Half an hour of gloriously stunning and effective vocals and instrumentation, from the cream of British bluegrass.

With a short break, the Alison Brown Quintet took the stage to blow the night away. With Alison alternating between banjo and guitar, John R. Burr on piano, Garry West bass, Kendrick Freeman on drums and Casey Driessen playing fiddle, the band thrilled the packed room with a mix of jazz and bluegrass styled acoustic instrumentals. The audience were stunned into silence from the start, with the thrilling 'Red Balloon' to 'Late on Arrival' off the Fair Weather album, to 'My Favourite Marsha', a tribute to astronaut Marsha Evans, which will be used on the space shuttle for wakeup music. As the remaining three members of the band left the stage, Alison and Casey played a game of cat and mouse with banjo and fiddle for the thrilling composition of 'Shake & Howdy'. The musicianship of these five young people is a cornucopia of dizzying skills, verging on the elegance of genius.

Offering a short interlude in this all instrumental set, Tom Travis was delighted at joining the elegant Alison Brown Quintet on stage and contributing a couple of songs, including 'It's The Natural Thing To Do', bringing great appreciation from the discerning audience.

All to soon the end of the night was upon us, leaving a memorable night to be relished by an audience who listened attentively. Thanks to all who made this trilling performance possible.

Graham Lees, Heywood. Write to | Website

1st Feb 2001