Alison Brown's “Foggy Morning Breaking” Featuring Steve Martin Hits #1

Article Contributed by Shore Fire Media | Published on Saturday, July 1, 2023

GRAMMY Award-winning music pioneer Alison Brown’s song, "Foggy Morning Breaking," featuring GRAMMY Award-winning musician/actor/author Steve Martin, has reached #1 on today's (6.30) Bluegrass Today and Grassicana charts. This stunning collaboration between the critically acclaimed banjoists is featured on Brown’s new album, On Banjo, available now via Compass Records.

Entertainment Weekly has said Brown’s music "honors tradition even as she cultivates it.” On “Foggy Morning Breaking,” she reinforces that point by tipping her hat to two of the most influential banjo players of the 20th century: Earl Scruggs, the father of bluegrass banjo and whose classic tune “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” the title riffs on, and the legendary John Hartford (“Gentle On My Mind”) from whom she borrows the title. The tune features Steve Martin, who co-wrote the tune with Brown, and who worked with Hartford on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in the 60s. Martin’s delicate clawhammer technique, alongside Brown’s Scruggs-style picking (both played in the old-time double C ‘sawmill’ tuning), gives listeners the chance to hear equal parts tradition and innovation while bringing their own interpretations and emotions to the melody.

"Is there any sweeter sound than clawhammer and 3-finger banjo in double C tuning?” asks Brown. "I wrote the A melody for this tune and texted Steve a voice memo asking if he wanted to add to it. Within a day, he sent back the perfect B section. In the spirit of the times, we hammered out the bridge over Zoom. The title comes from a clever turn of phrase courtesy of John Hartford."

“Foggy Morning Breaking” features some of the most revered players in acoustic music with Brown and Martin leading on banjo. The pair are joined by 2x GRAMMY-nominated virtuoso Sierra Hull on mandolin, 3X GRAMMY-winner Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Punch Brothers’ Chris Eldridge on guitar and 2x GRAMMY winner Todd Phillips on bass.

"Foggy Morning Breaking” is the second single from Brown’s brilliant new record ‘On Banjo,’ now available via Compass Records. It follows the trailblazing banjoist's release of “Sun And Water”, a mash-up of The Beatles’ “Here Comes The Sun” and Brazilian composer Antônio Carlos Jobim's “Águas de Março,'' that offered listeners a hint of the exciting and unexpected sounds that can be heard on ‘On Banjo.'

‘On Banjo’ is available now at found.ee/onbanjo. For more information on Alison Brown, visit alisonbrown.com.

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