GRAMMY Award-winning banjoists Steve Martin and Alison Brown released their debut collaborative album, Safe, Sensible and Sane via Compass Records. Featuring guest appearances from luminaries like Jackson Browne, Vince Gill, the Indigo Girls, Tim O'Brien, Jason Mraz, Della Mae, and more Safe, Sensible and Sane is a mesmerizing new turn in the evolution of banjo music.
Following their chart-topping collaborations "Foggy Morning Breaking," "Bluegrass Radio," and "Wall Guitar (Since You Said Goodbye)" - which the duo premiered on The Kelly Clarkson Show last fall - the longtime friends and banjo aficionados have crafted a collection of banjo-inspired songs built on Brown's daringly inventive melodies and Martin's idiosyncratic yet ineffably tender lyrics.
Tracked live at Compass Sound Studio (the historic studio at Compass Records' Nashville headquarters, owned and operated by Brown and her husband, bassist and co-producer Garry West), Safe, Sensible and Sane includes the standout track, "5 Days Out, 2 Days Back" feat. Tim O'Brien-a warm and timeless track that received three nominations at this year's International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Awards, which Martin and Brown also co-hosted. Stream the album here.
Additional highpoints include "New Cluck Old Hen," which reimagines a century-old Appalachian banjo tune and features the all-female bluegrass powerhouse Della Mae, "Michael" (feat. Aoife O'Donovan with Sarah Jarosz), a bittersweet reverie adorned with the breezy rhythms of bossa nova, "Girl, Have Money When You're Old" (feat. Indigo Girls), a harmony-fueled track with Amy Ray and Emily Sailers trading off lead vocals, and "Dear Time," (feat. Jackson Browne with Jeff Hanna)). The "Dear Time" music video was filmed at LA's iconic Troubadour, the storied venue where both Steve and Jackson launched their careers in the '60s during a very historic period in that fertile scene, and where Brown later performed as a rising SoCal teen bluegrasser.
In shaping the album's intricately detailed but freewheeling sound, Brown and Martin worked with over two dozen of the roots-music world's most renowned players, including legends like mandolinist Sam Bush and fiddle player Stuart Duncan as well as virtuosic young stars like Molly Tuttle and Sierra Hull. Co-produced by Brown and West, the result is a dazzling addition to a collective discography comprised of Brown's 12 acclaimed solo albums and Martin's expansive catalog (including his 2009 musical debut The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo and critically-lauded collaborative albums with Edie Brickell and Steep Canyon Rangers).
Over the course of their careers, Brown and Martin have each earned countless accolades for their contributions to banjo music: Brown made history as the first-ever female musician to win an instrumentalist of the year prize at the IBMA Awards (where she was named Banjo Player of the Year in 1991), while Martin received the IBMA's Entertainer of the Year award in 2011. Brown has also earned four GRAMMY nominations, and won the GRAMMY for Best Country Instrumental Performance in 2001. Martin is a five-time GRAMMY Award winner and won the GRAMMY for Best Bluegrass Album in 2009 for The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo. He was also nominated in 2011 for Best Bluegrass Album for Rare Bird Alert.
In 2010, Martin launched the Steve Martin Banjo Prize-an effort that's now awarded more than $500,000 in funds to banjo players in any genre or style, with past recipients including Rhiannon Giddens, Noam Pikelny, and Jake Blount. Also a longtime co-chair for the Steve Martin Banjo Prize, Brown co-founded the groundbreaking roots-music label Compass Records with West in 1995.
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