From the Wall Street Journal
By Barry Mazor
For a long stretch of its history, bluegrass was not a musical genre in which women were encouraged to take leading roles. The imagery, starting with the original Bill Monroe-Earl Scruggs model in the 1940s, was of skillful men calling the shots, singing high and picking really fast, really well. While in the 21st century female names are among the best known in the field, it is still striking to find that three band-leading women -- Alison Brown, Missy Raines and Dale Ann Bradley -- have each released distinctive, adventurous bluegrass CDs in recent weeks. That all three happen to be on the small independent, artist-friendly Compass label, based in Nashville, is no coincidence.
Tune In
Listen to a clip from Alison Brown's recent album "The Company You Keep":
The Road West
"It's a kind of sisterhood, really," Ms. Brown notes, and she should know. She's not only a widely admired banjo virtuoso, and in 1991 the first woman to win the International Bluegrass Music Association's banjo player of the year award, after a stint playing with Alison Krauss. She's also a former investment banker who co-founded and heads Compass Records along with her husband and bandmate, Gary West. While the three 40-something bandleaders on Compass are different musically, Ms. Brown stresses their common history.
"We're all about the same age," she said in an interview at Compass's Music Row offices, "and all three of us have seen change and what women can do in the field. When I was playing festivals growing up, people always felt compelled to say 'you're really good -- for a girl,' and it wasn't even meant as an insult. But you don't hear that so much any more; women are leading the charge with the most interesting bluegrass."
Ms. Brown's own latest CD, "The Company You Keep Read more...
By Barry Mazor
For a long stretch of its history, bluegrass was not a musical genre in which women were encouraged to take leading roles. The imagery, starting with the original Bill Monroe-Earl Scruggs model in the 1940s, was of skillful men calling the shots, singing high and picking really fast, really well. While in the 21st century female names are among the best known in the field, it is still striking to find that three band-leading women -- Alison Brown, Missy Raines and Dale Ann Bradley -- have each released distinctive, adventurous bluegrass CDs in recent weeks. That all three happen to be on the small independent, artist-friendly Compass label, based in Nashville, is no coincidence.
Tune In
Listen to a clip from Alison Brown's recent album "The Company You Keep":
The Road West
"It's a kind of sisterhood, really," Ms. Brown notes, and she should know. She's not only a widely admired banjo virtuoso, and in 1991 the first woman to win the International Bluegrass Music Association's banjo player of the year award, after a stint playing with Alison Krauss. She's also a former investment banker who co-founded and heads Compass Records along with her husband and bandmate, Gary West. While the three 40-something bandleaders on Compass are different musically, Ms. Brown stresses their common history.
"We're all about the same age," she said in an interview at Compass's Music Row offices, "and all three of us have seen change and what women can do in the field. When I was playing festivals growing up, people always felt compelled to say 'you're really good -- for a girl,' and it wasn't even meant as an insult. But you don't hear that so much any more; women are leading the charge with the most interesting bluegrass."
Ms. Brown's own latest CD, "The Company You Keep Read more...
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