Alison Brown On Mountain Stage The Grammy-winning banjo player has collaborated with Allison Krauss and Michelle Shocked. Now, she brings her own acoustic jazz band to Mountain Stage to play songs from her latest album.

Alison Brown On Mountain Stage

Alison Brown On Mountain Stage

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Grammy winner Alison Brown is a Harvard graduate who left her career as an investment banker to pursue music. She came to prominence as a member of Alison Krauss' Union Station and as bandleader for Michelle Shocked. With unparalleled skills on the banjo, Brown leads her own acoustic-jazz band in this, her third appearance on Mountain Stage. Along with John Burr on piano, Larry Atamanuik on drums and Brown's husband Gary West on bass, the band touches on songs from its latest album, The Company You Keep.

Set List

  • "Under the (Five) Wire"
  • "Crazy Ivan"
  • "Rocket Summer"
  • "The Road West"
  • "The Magnificent Seven"

Alison Brown. Brian Blauser hide caption

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Brian Blauser

Alison Brown.

Brian Blauser

Brown co-wrote three of the tunes here with Burr, including "Crazy Ivan," which was also co-written with Irish musician John Doyle. Doyle collaborated on the song "Magnificent Seven," from Brown's 2005 album Stolen Moments. Her fellow Mountain Stage guests in The Indigo Girls, who made an appearance on Stolen Moments, invited Brown to join them during their own set.

This feature originally ran Nov. 4, 2009.