Fair Weather, released on Compass in 2000, is a banjo-led album from Alison Brown, the player and label co-founder whose work pushed the instrument toward jazz, folk, and chamber-acoustic territory without abandoning its bluegrass roots. Brown assembled a formidable cast — Tim O'Brien, David Grier on guitar, Matt Flinner on mandolin, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, and Missy Raines on bass, with a guest vocal from Claire Lynch — for a program that leans on original composition and instrumental interplay rather than straight-ahead vocal bluegrass. A Harvard-trained former investment banker who left finance for music, Brown brought an unusually compositional sensibility to the banjo, and the record favors melodic shape and ensemble color over raw drive. Fair Weather captures her settling fully into the role of bandleader and writer, making the case for the five-string as a vehicle for a far wider vocabulary than tradition assigned it.
Tracklist
- 1 Late On Arrival 2:33
- 2 Fair Weather 3:07
- 3 Poe's Pickin' Party 3:46
- 4 Everyday I Write The Book 3:30
- 5 The Devil Went Down To Berkeley 4:24
- 6 Hummingbird Source Recording 3:58
- 7 Girl's Breakdown 3:44
- 8 Everybody’s Talkin’ alt version 3:15
- 9 Deep Gap 3:55
- 10 Shake and Howdy 3:14
- 11 Leaving Cottondale 3:22
- 12 Sweet Thing 1:42
