{"id":37912,"date":"2026-04-23T16:21:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=37912"},"modified":"2026-04-23T16:21:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:21:50","slug":"on-stage-music-never-drifted-too-far-from-alison-brown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=37912","title":{"rendered":"On Stage: Music never drifted too far from Alison Brown"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Denny Dyroff,<\/strong> Entertainment Editor, The Times<\/em><\/div>\n
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Alison Brown<\/p><\/div>\n

Alison Brown\u2019s parents were hoping she would be a doctor \u2013 a vocation that many parents wish for their children.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In 1980, Brown went to\u00a0Harvard University, where she studied history and literature. After graduating from Harvard, she earned an\u00a0MBA\u00a0from\u00a0UCLA.<\/div>\n
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Well, she didn\u2019t become an M.D. but she was a Harvard grad and that\u2019s enough to make any parent proud.<\/div>\n
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But music was always lurking in the background.<\/div>\n
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Brown followed an unconventional path to international recognition.<\/div>\n
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After college, she began a career in investment banking, but the bluegrass of her Southern California upbringing kept calling.<\/div>\n
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In 1982, while still at\u00a0Harvard, Brown helped to reunite the\u00a0Northern Lights\u00a0band. After a five-year hiatus, she became a band member until 1984, when she moved back to California. Brown worked for two years with\u00a0Smith Barney\u00a0in San Francisco, and then took a break to pursue her music interests.<\/div>\n

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Her career path took her from being an investment banker to being an accomplished banjo player.<\/div>\n
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When Alison Krauss sought a banjo player, Brown left Wall Street, touring with Krauss, Union Station, and Michelle Shocked before forming The Alison Brown Quartet in 1993.<\/div>\n
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In 2001, in collaboration with\u00a0B\u00e9la Fleck, Brown won the\u00a0Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance\u00a0for her song \u201cLeaving Cottondale\u201d from her album, \u201cFair Weather.\u201d<\/div>\n
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She participated in\u00a0Alison Krauss\u2019 Grammy-winning album\u00a0\u201cI\u2019ve Got That Old Feeling,\u201d and received a Grammy nomination for her own recording,\u00a0\u201cSimple Pleasures\u201d in 1990.<\/div>\n
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Last fall, she released a duet album with actor\/comedian\/banjoist Steve Martin called \u201cSafe Sensible and Sane,\u201d <\/i>and released the music video for their track \u201cNew Cluck Old Hen.\u201d<\/div>\n
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The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart and currently Brown and Martin have the #1 song on the bluegrass radio chart. In support of the new release, they appeared on The Tonight Show, The View, The Late Show, and Nightline.<\/div>\n
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A Grammy Award, working with Steve Martin, performing on the Tonight Show were just a few of the things that made Brown\u2019s parents O.K. with the fact that she didn\u2019t become a doctor.<\/div>\n
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\u201cMy parents were a little disappointed that I became a musician,\u201d said Brown, during a phone interview Wednesday as she awaited her flight at Nashville International Airport.<\/div>\n
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\u201cAfter a while, they changed their minds and became happy with what I had accomplished.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Brown, who is in the Banjo Hall of Fame, was flying to Philadelphia to start a two-week tour of the Northeast \u2013 a tour which brings her to the Sellersville Theater (24 West Temple Avenue, Sellersville, www.st94.com<\/u><\/a>) on April 23.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI\u2019m always touring,\u201d said Brown, the 2025 recipient of the Country Music Hall of Fame\u2019s Louise Scruggs Memorial Forum honor recognizing outstanding women in the music industry. \u201cIt\u2019s the Nashville way.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Joining her will be the long-time members of her touring quintet: John Ragusa (flute), Jody Nardone (piano), Garry West (bass) and Bryan Brock (drums).<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe\u2019ll be playing songs from my most recent record, songs from my catalog and songs from the record I put out with Steve Martin last year.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI knew Steve for 20 years. I used to play shows with him and Martin Short. I also co\u2011chair the Steve Martin Banjo Prize, which has given over half a million dollars to the banjo community.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Brown collaborated with Martin on the banjo\u2011driven album\u00a0\u201cSafe, Sensible and Sane<\/i>,\u201d featuring guest artists such as Jackson Browne, Vince Gill, Indigo Girls, and Jason Mraz.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe recorded most of the album at Compass Sound Studio. It\u2019s a legendary studio known as the first studio for recording outlaw county \u2013 Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson. Kinky Friedman.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Brown is co\u2011founder of Compass Records Group, praised by Billboard as \u201cone of the greatest independent labels of the last decade,\u201d overseeing nearly 1,000 releases.<\/div>\n
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In the early\u00a01990s, Brown and her husband, bass player Garry West, started their own record label, Small World Music. This company eventually led to the launch of\u00a0Compass Records\u00a0in 1995, an internationally recognized label, which has such artists as\u00a0Victor Wooten,\u00a0Colin Hay,\u00a0A.J. Croce,\u00a0Glen Phillips,\u00a0Robbie Fulks,\u00a0Bobby Osborne,\u00a0Altan,\u00a0Darol Anger,\u00a0Elizabeth & the Catapult\u00a0and others.<\/div>\n
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In 2006, The Compass Records Group acquired the rights to the\u00a0Green Linnet\u00a0catalog and the next year acquired the seminal Dublin-based Irish music label Mulligan records. These two acquisitions made Compass Records Group the leading label for Irish and Celtic music. In 2017, Compass acquired Red House Records, the St. Paul, MN based folk and Americana label started by Bob Feldman in 1983, bring artists including Greg Brown,\u00a0The Wailin\u2019 Jennys,\u00a0John Gorka,\u00a0Chastity Brown\u00a0and\u00a0Davina and the Vagabonds\u00a0to the Compass Records Group. Since that time, Red House has added\u00a0Steve Poltz,\u00a0The Small Glories, The Whitmore Sisters and\u00a0Kate Taylor\u00a0to the roster.<\/div>\n
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Compass Records\u2019 offices and studio are located on Music Row (916 19th Avenue South) in the former home of Glaser Brothers Productions (a.k.a.\u00a0\u201cHillbilly Central\u201d) where the likes of Waylon Jennings,\u00a0Willie Nelson, Kinky Friedman and Tompall Glaser gave rise\u00a0to country music\u2019s \u201cOutlaw\u201d movement<\/div>\n
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A New York writer dubbed the place \u201cHillbilly Central\u201d in 1974 because the aforementioned figureheads of Nashville\u2019s outlaw crowd were likely to be found here at one time or another.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWorking with Steve was great,\u201d said Brown, who has released 12 acclaimed solo albums, earned a GRAMMY and multiple nominations, and received honors including the USA Artists Fellowship in Music and the IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award.<\/div>\n
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\u201cHe\u2019s one of the two most famous banjo players in the world \u2013 Steve and Kermit the Frog. He\u2019s continually creating \u2013 very creative.<\/div>\n
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\u201cA lot of the songs on the record came together really fast. Steve has a real positive spirit. He brings so much excitement and joy to the process.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Brown has not been very prolific with her solo album output.<\/div>\n
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\u201cOn Banjo,\u201d her most recent release, came out on Compass Records in 2023.<\/div>\n
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Before that, it was \u201cSong of the Banjo\u201d on Compass Records in 2015 and \u201cThe Company You Keep\u201d on Compass Records in 2010.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI was just in the studio last week,\u201d said Brown. \u201cI\u2019ve got 12 albums under my belt, and it seems like it\u2019s time to make another one.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Video link for Alison Brown \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/alnKMkukfYE<\/a>.<\/div>\n
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The show at the Sellersville Theater on April 23 will start at 8 p.m.<\/div>\n
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Ticket prices start at $35.<\/div>\n
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\"\"On April 23 at the Elkton Music Hall (107 North Street, Elkton, Maryland, www.elktonmusichall.com<\/u><\/a>), Yarn will have a record release show for their\u00a0new album,\u00a0\u201cSaturday Night Sermon.\u201d<\/div>\n
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The album officially drops on April 24 through 333 Entertainment and finds the\u00a0Carolina-based rockers leaning into\u00a0classic country, with\u00a0dynamic arrangements that feature horn sections and a gospel choir.<\/div>\n
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Yarn, a\u00a0North Carolina-based Americana band, had its start in New York City before moving south.<\/div>\n
The band —\u00a0Blake Christiana, Vocals, Guitar; Andy Thomas, Vocals, Guitar; Rick Bugel, Bass; Robert Bonhomme, Drums\u00a0\u00a0–also found a \u201chome away from home\u201d in Kennett Square. They performed many times over the last decade at Kennett Flash. Now, they\u2019re heading a little southwest to a venue in Maryland.<\/div>\n
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Yarn\u00a0started as a band in 2006 playing a blend of country, bluegrass, country blues and rock. It was music from the hills — made on the crowded avenues of Brooklyn.<\/div>\n
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\u201cYarn\u00a0happened real naturally,\u201d said Christiana, during a phone interview Tuesday morning from his home in Raleigh, North Carolina. \u201cI had another band at the time — Blake and the Family Dog.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI began writing country bluegrass tunes which I didn\u2019t feel were right for the band. We had jams at a club in Greenwich Village called Kenny\u2019s Castaway. Eventually, the guys who kept coming back every week ended up being the guys in the band.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe would go out on the road, but we had a Monday night residency there for two years whenever we were in town. Now, 20 years later, we\u2019re still doing it.<\/div>\n
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\u201cFor our 20th\u00a0anniversary, we\u2019re having an anniversary release of our first album \u2013 on vinyl. Our first self-titled album came out when vinyl was dying and everything was a CD.\u2019<\/div>\n
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The band released \u201cYarn\u201d in 2006. Five studio albums followed — \u201cYarn\u201d\u00a0(2007), \u201cEmpty Pockets\u201d\u00a0(2008), \u201cCome On In\u201d\u00a0(2010), \u201cAlmost Home\u201d\u00a0(2012) and \u201cShine the Light On\u201d\u00a0(2013).<\/div>\n
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The band then took to the road, playing more than 170 shows a year and sharing stages with such superstars as Charlie Daniels, Marty Stuart, Allison Krauss, Leon Russell, and The Lumineers.<\/div>\n
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Since then, they have released \u201cThis Is the Year\u201d (2016), \u201cLucky 13, Vol. 1\u201d (2019), \u201cLucky 13, Vol. 2\u201d (2019), \u201cBorn Blessed Grateful & Alive\u201d (2024) and \u201cLive Yarn Vol. 1\u201d (2024).<\/div>\n
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\u201cEverything we\u2019ve done has never been contrived,\u201d said Christiana.<\/div>\n
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Since forming in New York City nearly 20 years ago, Yarn has charted repeatedly on the Americana Music Association album and singles charts, climbed as high as number 4, and been featured heavily on Sirius XM\u2019s Outlaw Country, including their single Traveling Kind.<\/div>\n
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According to Christiana, \u201cThe band has found something really special over the past couple of years. It feels like we are finally the live band and album-producing band we always set out to be.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSaturday Night Sermon\u201d\u00a0opens with its title track, a soaring, guitar-and choir-filled introduction that sets a positive, uplifting tone for the journey ahead.<\/div>\n
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From the singalong encouragement of \u201cLet the Universe\u201d to the heartfelt ballad \u201cWhere We Land,\u201d the collection navigates gratitude, love, and the human condition, culminating in the reflective, comforting \u201cA Welcome New Home.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Rock-tinged tracks like \u201cLongshot,\u201d \u201cMight As Well Be King\u201d and \u201cNever Enough\u201d add edge and contrast.<\/div>\n
\u201cWhen we go in the studio, we\u2019re working and it\u2019s fun,\u201d said Christian. \u201cWe recorded the album in Boonton Township, New Jersey at a studio called The Pine Box.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe made our last two studio albums there. Everyone is in the same room when we\u2019re recording and we track almost everything live.<\/div>\n
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\u201cOur drummer is Robert Bonhomme and our bass player is Rick Bugel. This rhythm section is Yarn. Andy Thomas, who joined the band three years ago, is the best guitarist I ever played with.<\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019m always trying to write songs that bring joy and happiness. It shows in the music. I just want it to be a celebration of life — something to get people to think more positively.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Video link for Yarn \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/aSkqDMAMpUI<\/a>.<\/div>\n
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The show at Elkton Music Hall on April 23, which has Scott Matthews as the opening act, will start at 8 p.m.<\/div>\n
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Tickets are $26.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times Alison Brown\u2019s parents were hoping she would be a doctor \u2013 a vocation that many parents wish for their children. In 1980, Brown went to\u00a0Harvard University, where she studied history and literature. After graduating from Harvard, she earned an\u00a0MBA\u00a0from\u00a0UCLA. Well, she didn\u2019t become an M.D. but she was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5166],"tags":[13225,3912,5342],"class_list":["post-37912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-d-arts-entertainment","tag-alison-brown","tag-featured","tag-yarn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37912"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37914,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37912\/revisions\/37914"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}