Seventeenth Louise Scruggs Memorial Forum Honoring Alison Brown
Alison Brown is a musician, producer, songwriter, and record label executive with more than thirty-five years of experience. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, she began playing banjo as a teenager while growing up in Southern California. Brown attended Harvard University, where she studied history and literature; earned an MBA from UCLA; and worked in investment banking until she realized she missed making music. After an offer from Alison Krauss to play banjo in her band, Union Station, Brown gave up her corporate career to play music full time. She released her Grammy-nominated debut album, Simple Pleasures, in 1990 and in 1991 became the first woman to win the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Banjo Player of the Year award.
Known for her innovative blend of diverse musical styles, Brown has recorded twelve solo albums and has produced works for Claire Lynch, Bobby Osborne, and Peter Rowan, among others. Hollywood star Steve Martin, a frequent collaborator, has praised her as “the great lyrical genius of modern banjo.” Brown won a Grammy for Best Country Instrumental Performance—for “Leaving Cottondale,” a collaboration with Béla Fleck from her album Fairweather—in 2001 and was inducted into the American Banjo Hall of Fame in 2019.
In 1995, Brown co-founded the internationally recognized label Compass Records with her husband, Garry West. Over the last thirty years, the label has amassed a catalog of more than 1,000 releases across multiple imprints.
The Louise Scruggs Memorial Forum honors music industry leaders who continue the legacy of trailblazer Louise Scruggs, a formidable businesswoman who set new professional standards in artist management. Ford Theater. Free and open to the public. Program ticket required.
