Banjo Business in Norfolk

Allison Brown will headline Infinity Hall Norfolk on Thursday, June 6.

Provided

Banjo Business in Norfolk

Bridging the banjo spectrum from Harvard to Hazard, Grammy-winning musician Allison Brown will headline Infinity Hall Norfolk June 6.

Brown grew up in North Stamford, Conn., and started playing guitar when she was eight. She soon discovered another stringed sound that piqued her interest.

“I was taking guitar lessons from Paul Guernsey. He brought a copy of Flatt and Scruggs’ “Foggy Mountain” album. That was my introduction to the banjo, and I just loved the sound. Paul gave me a few banjo lessons, and when my family relocated to La Jolla California in the mid 1970s, I discovered the San Diego Bluegrass Club. My focus shifted to banjo after that,” Brown says.

She learned to play Scrugg’s-style 5 string banjo (with 2 finger picks and a thumb pick on her right hand). Though her music veers into other styles (jazz, Latin, Celtic), she primarily uses Scrugg’s technique.

Her path to success has been unusual. After completing undergraduate studies at Harvard and receiving an MBA from UCLA, Brown worked in investment banking. But she missed bluegrass so much that when Alison Krauss called looking for a banjo player, she dropped her Wall Street career to pursue music. She toured with Alison Krauss and Union Station, and Michelle Shocked before forming her own group, The Alison Brown Quartet, in 1993.

“The lure of the banjo was just too much to resist. And I just couldn’t muster that much passion for tax exempt bonds. But I’ve put my MBA to work as co-founder of Compass Records, which will celebrate its 30th anniversary next year,” Brown says.

Since then, she has performed at festivals throughout the USA and Europe. Her band traveled to Latin America and to Japan as Friendship Ambassadors on behalf of the Nashville Mayor’s office to celebrate a new sister city relationship between Kamakura, Japan and Music City.

When asked about the connection between different global styles of banjo, Brown says,

“There are banjo-like instruments in a lot of cultures: the shamisen in Japan and the pipa in China for example. But the banjo that we know in the United States came from the enslaved people from West Africa. Over the course of the 1800s, it developed from being a handmade instrument into a mass-produced instrument and by the end of that 19th century, the banjo was America’s most popular instrument. It was actually the minstrel shows in the early to mid 1800s that brought the banjo to the UK and Ireland. It’s an incredibly versatile instrument in my opinion, and in its long history it has been a part of a lot of different genres: jazz, ragtime, classical (thinking about the banjo orchestras in the late 1800s), old time – all of that before Earl Scruggs ever played a lick. I’ve always felt it’s part of the banjo’s DNA to explore different musical styles.”

Brown has played with many of the greats, including Allison Krauss and Steve Martin.

“Both are incredible artists. Alison’s band gave me the opportunity to dig into the roots of bluegrass and travel through the parts of the country where bluegrass music was created. Steve is very inspiring. He’s a great banjo player with a gorgeous touch on the instrument as well as being a very intuitive writer. We’ve been writing music together lately, including our newest single “Bluegrass Radio” which came out in March and debuted at #1 on the Bluegrass chart.”

Brown is also the co-founder of Compass Records Group, which oversees a catalog of nearly 1,000 releases across multiple labels. She serves on the Board of the Nashville Chapter of the Recording Academy, the adjunct faculty of Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music and as co-chair of the Steve Martin Banjo Prize.

And she’s released a new album called “On Banjo”, which she recorded at Compass Sound Studio in Nashville. Technology allowed her to collaborate from afar during the pandemic.

“Those strange times created the opportunity for remote collaborations with artists who were stuck at home since no one was on the road. Sharon Isbin and Anat Cohen recorded their parts remotely to tracks we did in Nashville. It was a different approach, but it opened up a way of thinking about how and whom you could collaborate with,” she says.

For her show at Infinity Hall Norfolk, Brown will perform with John Ragusa (flute), Mason Embry (piano), Garry West (bass) and Bryan Brock (drums). She also has family onboard.

“My daughter Hannah is going to be joining us as a special guest vocalist. She just graduated from Berklee College of Music, and it’s always a blast when she sits in with the band. Our set will include some original tunes, some familiar tunes, and some audio-visual accompaniment. The show offers something for everyone,” she says.

Latest News

Wake Robin developers reapply with P&Z
Wake Robin Inn is located on Sharon Road in Lakeville.
Photo by John Coston

LAKEVILLE — ARADEV LLC, the developer behind the proposed redesign of Wake Robin Inn, returned before Salisbury’s Planning and Zoning Commission at its May 5 regular meeting with a 644-page plan that it says scales back the project.

ARADEV withdrew its previous application last December after a six-round public hearing in which neighbors along Wells Hill Road and Sharon Road rallied against the proposal as detrimental to the neighborhood.

Keep ReadingShow less
Housatonic lax wins 18-6 versus Lakeview
Chloe Hill, left, scored once in the game against Lakeview High School Tuesday, May 7.
Photo by Riley Klein

FALLS VILLAGE — Housatonic Valley Regional High School girls lacrosse kept rolling Tuesday, May 6, with a decisive 18-6 win over Lakeview High School.

Eight different players scored for Housatonic in the Northwest Corner rivalry matchup. Sophomore Georgie Clayton led the team with five goals.

Keep ReadingShow less
Troutbeck Symposium 2025: the latest chapter in continuing a vital legacy

Participating students and teachers gathered for the traditional photo at the 2025 Troutbeck Symposium on Thursday, May 1.

Leila Hawken

Students and educators from throughout the region converged at Troutbeck in Amenia for a three-day conference to present historical research projects undertaken collaboratively by students with a common focus on original research into their chosen topics. Area independent schools and public schools participated in the conference that extended from Wednesday, April 30 to Friday, May 2.

The symposium continues the Troutbeck legacy as a decades-old gathering place for pioneers in social justice and reform. Today it is a destination luxury country inn, but Troutbeck remains conscious of its significant place in history.

Keep ReadingShow less
Roaring Oaks Florist launches self-serve flower market

Terence S. Miller, owner of Roaring Oaks Florist in the new self-serve area of the shop.

Natalia Zukerman

Just in time for Mother’s Day, Roaring Oaks Florist in Lakeville has launched a new self-serve flower station next to its Main Street shop, offering high-quality, grab-and-go bouquets from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week — including Sundays when the main store is closed.

Owner Terence S. Miller, who bought the shop 24 years ago at just 20 years old, calls the new feature “a modern twist on an old-school honor system,” with some high-tech updates.

Keep ReadingShow less