One of the most multifaceted minds in roots music, Alison Brown is a Grammy-winning musician, Grammy-nominated producer and co-founder of the renowned Compass Records Group. Brown will take the stage at the Opera House in Boothbay Harbor with her band on June 7 for a show that will make the audience believe in the sound of the banjo.
Alison Brown. Courtesy of the Opera House
Although Brown began her musical career as a teenager in the Southern California bluegrass scene, she has built a reputation as one of today’s most forward-thinking and innovative banjo players. She is known for taking the instrument far beyond its Appalachian roots by blending bluegrass and jazz influences into a sonic tapestry that has earned praise and recognition from a variety of national tastemakers, including The Wall Street Journal, CBS Sunday Morning, NPR and USA Today.
“Like James Taylor’s voice or B.B. King’s guitar, Alison Brown’s banjo is an instrument possessed of a unique sonic signature and an inescapable beauty … an artist who never ceases to delight,” Billboard Magazine writes.
“Banjo music is seldom thought of as ‘mellow’ or, dare we say ‘pretty,’ but Alison Brown makes it so in the jazz-classical-pop-folk-Latin mix of the Alison Brown Quartet. As a true ground-breaker, she’s opening up whole new vistas for an instrument once solely associated with pickin’ ‘n’ grinnin’ ” a reviewer from USA Today writes.
“Alison Brown left a career in investment banking for a life as a banjo musician. Anyone who thinks this was a foolish move hasn’t heard her play,” according to The New Yorker.
On her new release, aptly titled “On Banjo,” Brown continues her musical explorations on a set of original compositions that explore the range of the banjo. The album features an eclectic cast of collaborators, including Steve Martin, Kronos Quartet, Sharon Isbin, Anat Cohen, Sierra Hull, Stuart Duncan and members of the Alison Brown Quintet.
Brown is the recipient of the USA Artists Fellowship in Music and the Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association. In 2019, she was inducted into the American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame. Alison serves on the Board of Governors of the Recording Academy and as co-chairperson of the Steve Martin Banjo Prize.
Advance discounted tickets for this special evening are currently available directly from the box office at 86 Townsend Ave., Boothbay Harbor, or by calling 633-5159. Advance tickets are $35, regular tickets online at boothbayoperahouse.com and at the door (if available) are $40. The concert is at 7:30 p.m., with doors for seating opening at 7 p.m. This concert is made possible thanks to generous sponsorship from E.M. Wood Construction of Boothbay Harbor.
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