Show Notes
Alison Brown is a Grammy Winning banjo player, composer and producer who has made a bunch of great albums under her own name but also as a sideperson and collaborator with artists like Alison Krauss, Michelle Shocked, and Stuart Duncan. She started playing as a youngster, first on dobro and then switched over to banjo. She spent her early years cutting her teeth at bluegrass events and venues around California, before veering away from music in the 80’s to get her MBA from UCLA! Alison was working full-time in finance when she realized that she just didn’t want to be doing that and dove back head-first into music. She joined Union Station with Alison Krauss in the late 80’s and has never looked back. That band won a grammy in 1990, and then she joined Michelle Shocked’s band and became her bandleader for a few years. Alison started her own quartet and has been recording albums with them since the early 90’s. Her label, Compass Records, has grown to be one of the leading labels for roots music in the world, and her and and her husband Gary West run the whole thing out of the office and studio on music row. The studio itself is an incredible piece of history, known at one time as “Hillbilly Central” it’s where some of the iconic records were made for Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. Alison’s latest record “On Banjo” is a great example of her killer playing but also her composing and arranging skills. It features guests like Steve Martin, Sierra Hull, Sharon Isbin and the Kronos quartet and explores styles like Brazillian choro and bossa nova as well as bluegrass and old time. You can keep up with what she’s up to, and get all her tour dates at alisonbrown.com
Be sure to listen to the Accompanying Songs Playlist which contains some of the artist’s work, plus many of the songs we discuss on the show: Playlist on Spotify / Playlist on Apple Music
If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the show with a donation or Patreon subscription The show’s website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com Your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at www.stevedawson.ca Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Music Makers and Soul Shakers with Steve Dawson
Season 9 comes to a close and I wanted to wrap it up with a short episode and what’s to come, and take care of our incredible end-of-season giveaways.
Guitarist Andy Reiss joins me on the show today, the last full episode of Season 9! When I first moved to Nashville, I started going to see the Time Jumpers. They are an incredible band that plays western swing and classic country every Monday at 3rd & Lindsley. For quite a few years there, the band included Vince Gill, Paul Franklin, Ranger Doug, 3 incredible fiddle players, Dawn Sears on vocals, and Andy Reiss was always there, just calmly tackling every song, no matter how fast and crazy or slow and soulful. Usually playing elegant jazz/blues/bop licks on a Les Paul, or sometimes a 335. And while it was mind-bending to see everyone doing what they do, Andy was always a high point of any show for me. He’s still doing that gig, as he has for over 20 years now. Andy started out in San Francisco, and made his way to Nashville around 1980, where he got to watch and work with a number of the original Nashville A-Team. Folks like Pete Drake, Harold Bradley, Bob Moore, Ray Edenton, and Pig Robbins. People that I know of as legends - Andy was around them from day 1 after moving here. He spent a good deal of time on the road with artists like Reba McIntyre and Slim Whitman, and has played on hundreds of records for artists like Miranda Lambert, Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers and Leon Russell. He is truly one of the great guitar players in town, and has a deep knowledge of music, guitars and history. I also get to enjoy him up close and personal, since he now plays in my band The Volcano Brothers as well! Be sure to go and see Andy any time you’re in Nashville.
Following the passing of blues legend John Hammond, we’re revisiting this conversation with him from the first season of Music Makers and Soul Shakers, with the addition of a later conversation in which John recounts meeting Bo Diddley. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
British pedal steel guitar legend BJ Cole joins me on the show today. BJ is a masterful steel player - very inventive and textural but with incredible chops and skills as well. He’s amassed an incredible body of solo work over the years, but has also been the top call steel session player in the UK for decades. He had a very solitary musical start, but got into country bands in England and eventually started gigging and playing sessions. Things changed for BJ when he got called to play steel on Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” in 1971. He laid down some very tasty and memorable steel parts on that hit, and the phone started ringing big time. BJ has played on records and toured with an incredible array of artists like Joan Armatrading, Marc Bolan, KD Lang, Beck, Bjork, Sting, John Cale, Brian Eno and many more. He’s also always written and recorded his own music and collaborations, which have been all over the place musically and are a great way to delve into his musical brain. There’s a new collab with cellist Emily Burridge - cello and steel duets that’s really cool, and his solo albums like Transparent Music, The New Hovering Dog, Trouble in Paradise - all great albums well worth checking out. We get into all it, plus some seriously nerdy pedal steel talk. You can keep up to date on BJ’s latest projects and tours at bjcole.co.uk Enjoy my conversation with BJ Cole!
This is Part 2 of my conversation with Brent Maher - have a listen to Part 1 from last week first and then dig in!