Banjo Innovator Alison Brown in Florida This Weekend

Alison Brown travels to Florida this weekend for two shows: on Friday, March 3, at Concert Under the Stars in Lake Wales and then Saturday at The Attic at Rock Brothers Brewing in Tampa.

Who IS Alison Brown, you might ask.

Fair question. Understand first that her groundbreaking work belongs in the same conversation with Béla Fleck. Now that we have your attention:

Alison has been playing professionally for 45 years (she is 60). She toured as a teen with Stuart Duncan; her first album with Duncan, recorded in 1981, is titled Pre-Quel.

Since then? She played with Alison Krauss and Union Station (1987-1989). She was Michelle Shocked’s band leader in 1992. 13 albums, Grammy and International Bluegrass Music Association nominations and awards, and 20 years later, Brown is still making groundbreaking music.

Like Fleck, she stirs up a fine gumbo of bluegrass, jazz, blues, folk, Celtic music and more, and each of her albums and concert appearances shares offers those flavors in abundance.

In addition to the two Florida shows this weekend, Brown has festival appearances in May at MerleFest in Wilkesboro and FreshGrass in Bentonville.