Alison Brown, Stolen Moments - 50m 42s

Tracks & Durations

1. The Sound Of Summer Running	4:21
2. The Magnificent Seven	3:53
3. Homeward Bound	4:04
4. The Pirate Queen	4:29
5. Carrowkeel	3:59
6. Angel	4:35
7. McIntyre Heads South	4:00
8. One Morning In May	4:34
9. (I'm Naked And I'm) Going To Glasgow	6:48
10. Prayer Wheel	4:40
11. Musette For A Palindrome	5:12

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Review

With her impeccable musicianship and consummate taste, Alison Brown takes the banjo far from its rural traditions. If this is roots music, it no longer has any dust on its boot heels, as she engages in sophisticated interplay with Stuart Duncan's soaring fiddle on "The Sound of Summer Running," takes a Celtic romp with Sam Bush's sprightly mandolin on "The Magnificent Seven," and fashions a tone poem of atmospheric impressionism in "The Pirate Queen." Though instrumentals dominate, guest vocalists include the Indigo Girls on a revival of Simon and Garfunkel's "Homeward Bound," Beth Nielsen Chapman on a spiritually radiant rendition of Jimi Hendrix's "Angel," Andrea Zonn on the folk ballad "One Morning in May," and Mary Chapin Carpenter--billed as "Thigdalia Boomchick"--backed by a female chorus of Boomchicks on Boo Hewerdine's "Prayer Wheel." Brown's eclectic synthesis of bluegrass/jazz/classical/folk/new age is closer to NPR than Grand Ole Opry, more fitting for Sunday brunch than a Saturday night hoedown. --Don McLeeseStolen Moments showcases the Grammy winning banjoist, Alison Brown at the peak of her abilities. Drawing from a myriad of influences, there is a fluid musicality to her genre-bending album. In Brown's estimation, it's her most musically successful record to date. "For the first time, I feel like I've created a true hybrid sound that suggests its influences -bluegrass, jazz, Celtic music - but when taken as a whole isn't any one of these things. It may not be easy to put a label on it, but that's fine with me since that's the musical world I live in as a musician and with Compass records. To my ear, Stolen Moments comes off as a very accessible and listenable record with a consistent sound from track to track."

Anchored by Brown's technically rich and highly musical banjo, instrumental tracks range from the odd meter newgrass hoedown of The Magnificent Seven to the more delicate jazz-hued sensibility of The Pirate Queen and the Gregorian-chant inspired Carrowkeel. Playmates include bluegrass greats Sam Bush (mandolin), Stuart Duncan (fiddle) and Mike Marshall (mandolin) as well as Irish mavericks John Doyle (guitar) and Seamus Egan (flute), ex-Pretenders and Paul McCartney Band guitarist Robbie McIntosh and long time band mate John R. Burr (piano) as well as Nashville legend Kenny Malone (drums).

Brown also features an all-female cast of vocalists on four of the album's tracks. The Indigo Girls appear on a neo-bluegrass arrangement of Homeward Bound, Compass label mate Beth Nielsen Chapman delivers a delicate version of the Jimi Hendrix's classic Angel, and Mary Chapin Carpenter and Andrea Zonn are both Brown's co-conspirators from the Boomchicks (also including Sally Van Meter and Sally Truitt) an in-your-face all-female group formed for the Telluride Bluegrass festival four years ago. "The Boomchicks are such a unique bunch and I thought the Boo Hewerine song Prayer Wheel would be a great vehicle for Chapin's singing and everyone's playing - as well as having the right vibe for a band that came together in the Colorado mountains." Finally, fiddler/vocalist Andrea Zonn, who tours regularly as a featured guest with the Alison Brown Quartet, offers a sweet version of the folk classic One Morning in May, artfully arranged to feature John Doyle and Brown's twin guitars stylings.

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