Banjo Bonanza: Steve Martin, Alison Brown Plot Debut Album

Banjo virtuosos Steve Martin and Alison Brown have come together for their first collaborative album, Safe, Sensible and Sane, which will be released Oct. 17 on Compass Records. First single “Dear Time” featuring Jackson Browne and Jeff Hanna is out now in tandem with an accompanying music video filmed at Los Angeles’ Troubadour club.

“With the banjo, there are so many styles you can work with, but Alison and I both have an ear for its more melodic, melancholy aspect,” says Martin, who previously teamed with Brown for recordings of songs such as “Foggy Morning Breaking” and “Bluegrass Radio.” “We got together and played music for days, and ended up making a record where our entire banjo histories coalesce.”

“We didn’t start off by saying, let’s make an album,” adds Brown. “We were just having a good time writing songs, and at some point we realized we’d written enough to gather them all together and put a bow on it. There was a joy and ease and sense of fun to the whole process, and now hopefully everyone who listens will share that joy.”

Safe, Sensible and Sane is laden with additional guest appearances by Vince Gill, the Indigo Girls, Tim O’Brien, Jason Mraz, Aoife O’Donovan, Sarah Jarosz and Della Mae. Among the musicians lending a hand at the Brown-operated Compass Sound Studio in Nashville are mandolin player Sam Bush, fiddle player Stuart Duncan, Molly Tuttle and Sierra Hull.

Martin and Brown will co-host the International Bluegrass Music Awards next month in Chattanooga, Tn. Album track “5 Days Out, 2 Days Back” is up for Song of the Year, Collaborative Performance of the Year and Music Video of the Year, while Brown is nominated for Banjo Player of the Year.