Meet celebrated musician Alison Brown and San Diego Union-Tribune Music Writer George Varga as they talk about Alison's career and explore her connection to her instrument of choice, the banjo.
In the instrumental food chain, the five-string banjo is one of the more dominant instruments: loud, brash, and very hard to tame. In 1945, Earl Scruggs made the biggest leap in harnessing its raw power, bringing a revolutionary precision of touch and depth of tone.
Thousands of banjo players have since made their marks, but none has cut such a path—or moved so far along it—as has Alison Brown. Acclaimed as one of today's finest progressive banjo players, she leads an ensemble that successfully marries a broad array of roots-influenced music including folk, jazz, Celtic, and Latin.