Fair Weather
Considering the bluegrass renaissance we've gladly witnessed at the end of the 1990s, it's not surprising that banjo wizard Alison Brown would move away from her more progressive jazz-based endeavors and return to more traditional-sounding bluegrass. High-profile, all-star affairs such as Béla Fleck'sBluegrass Sessions, Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band'sThe Mountain, and Dolly Parton'sThe Grass Is Bluehelped the genre rise to new heights in popularity in 1999. Who knows what spurred Brown to makeFair Weather, but the end result is a stunning, appealing, broad-ranging, star-studded record. In the company of acoustic-music royalty--Sam Bush,Stuart Duncan,Mike Marshall,Tony Rice,David Grier,Matt Flinner,Darol Anger,Jerry Douglas,Béla Fleck,Tim O'Brien, andTodd Phillips--Brown plows through hard-charging breakdowns, minor-keyed newgrass, solo-banjo lullabies, and everything in between.Vince Gillsings the bright title track andClaire Lynchhandles vocals on the delightful "Hummingbird." The two famous cover songs--Elvis Costello's "Everyday I Write the Book" (sung by Bush) andFred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin'" (sung by O'Brien)--are pleasant enough diversions, though they pale in comparison to the likes of "Shake and Howdy," an intricate, classically tinged trio with Anger and Marshall. And, lest we forget, the compositional skills and mesmerizing banjo work of Ms. Brown, a woman who is acutely aware of the vast melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic possibilities of her instrument and always takes full advantage of them.--Marc Greilsamer