SAN DIEGO — Grammy Award-winner Alison Brown's status as the world's most unlikely banjo star is as undeniable as her command of the steel-stringed instrument long synonymous with her name.
Her star-studded new instrumental album, "On Banjo," features fellow banjo champion Steve Martin, the Kronos Quartet, classical guitarist Sharon Isbin, jazz clarinet dynamo Anat Cohen and multi-instrumental bluegrass great Stuart Duncan. He was Brown's frequent musical partner when they were growing up in Southern California, an era the two salute on the ebullient "Tall Hog at the Trough," one of the album's standout cuts.
"I met Stuart at Shakey's Pizza Parlor in La Mesa in 1974, at a monthly meeting of the San Diego Bluegrass Club," she recalled, speaking from her Nashville, Tennessee-area home. "He was 10 and I was 12. We were probably the youngest players there."
