GRAMMY Award-winning banjoists Steve Martin and Alison Brown announced their debut collaborative album, Safe, Sensible and Sane, out October 17 via Compass Records. Featuring guest appearances from luminaries like Jackson Browne, Vince Gill, the Indigo Girls, Tim O’Brien, Jason Mraz, Della Mae, and more, Safe, Sensible and Sane emerges as a captivating new turn in the evolution of banjo music. Pre-order the album HERE.

Following their chart-topping collaborations “Foggy Morning Breaking,” “Bluegrass Radio,” and “Wall Guitar (Since You Said Goodbye),” the longtime friends and banjo aficionados have crafted a collection of banjo-inspired songs built on Brown’s daringly inventive melodies and Martin’s idiosyncratic yet ineffably tender lyrics. 

Also today, Martin and Brown unveiled a new single, “Dear Time,” (feat. Jackson Browne with Jeff Hanna). With lyrics by Martin and music by Martin and Brown, the song is a soul-baring letter to time itself, striking a potent balance of playful humor and heavy-hearted sincerity—a dynamic beautifully embodied by Browne. Featuring harmony vocals from Hanna (Browne’s former bandmate during his brief stint in the first iteration of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band), “Dear Time” also draws much of its emotional power from the elegant simplicity of its melody.  

The music video for “Dear Time” was filmed at LA’s iconic Troubadour, the storied venue where both Steve and Jackson launched their careers in the ’60s during a very historic period in that fertile scene, and where Brown later performed as a rising SoCal teen bluegrasser. Listen to the track HERE and watch the music video HERE.

“With the banjo, there are so many styles you can work with, but Alison and I both have an ear for its more melodic, melancholy aspect,” Martin shares. “We got together and played music for days, and ended up making a record where our entire banjo histories coalesce.”

“We didn’t start off by saying, ‘Let’s make an album,’” Brown shares. “We were just having a good time writing songs, and at some point we realized we’d written enough to gather them all together and put a bow on it. There was a joy and ease and sense of fun to the whole process, and now hopefully everyone who listens will share that joy.”

Tracked live at Compass Sound Studio (the historic studio at Compass Records’ Nashville headquarters, owned and operated by Brown and her husband, bassist and co-producer Garry West), Safe, Sensible and Sane includes standouts like the recently released “5 Days Out, 2 Days Back” feat. Tim O’Brien—a warm and timeless track that is nominated for Song of the Year, Collaborative Performance of the Year, and Music Video of the Year at this year's International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Awards, where Brown also picked up a nomination for Banjo Player of the Year. 

Additional highpoints include “New Cluck Old Hen,” which reimagines a century-old Appalachian banjo tune and features the all-female bluegrass powerhouse Della Mae, “Michael” (feat. Aoife O’Donovan with Sarah Jarosz), a bittersweet reverie adorned with the breezy rhythms of bossa nova, “Money When You’re Old” (feat. Indigo Girls), a harmony-fueled track with Amy Ray and Emily Sailers trading off lead vocals, and  "Dear Time" (feat. Jackson Browne with Jeff Hanna), out now.

In shaping the album’s intricately detailed but freewheeling sound, Brown and Martin worked with over two dozen of the roots-music world’s most renowned players, including legends like mandolinist Sam Bush and fiddle player Stuart Duncan as well as virtuosic young stars like Molly Tuttle and Sierra Hull. Co-produced by Brown and West, the result is a dazzling addition to a collective discography comprised of Brown’s 12 acclaimed solo albums and Martin’s expansive catalog (including his 2009 musical debut The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo and critically-lauded collaborative albums with Edie Brickell and Steep Canyon Rangers).

Over the course of their careers, Brown and Martin have each earned countless accolades for their contributions to banjo music: Brown made history as the first-ever female musician to win an instrumentalist of the year prize at the IBMA Awards (where she was named Banjo Player of the Year in 1991), while Martin received the IBMA’s Entertainer of the Year award in 2011. Meanwhile, in 2010, Martin launched the Steve Martin Banjo Prize—an effort that’s now awarded more than $500,000 in funds to banjo players in any genre or style, with past recipients including Rhiannon Giddens and Jake Blount. Also a longtime co-chair for the Steve Martin Banjo Prize, Brown co-founded the groundbreaking roots-music label Compass Records with West in 1995. Brown and Martin are also set to co-host the International Bluegrass Music Awards next month in Chattanooga.

Safe, Sensible, and Sane Track listing

    Friend of Mine 
    5 Days Out (feat. Tim O’Brien)  
    New Cluck Old Hen (feat. Della Mae)  
    Michael (feat. Aoife O’Donovan with Sarah Jarosz)  
    Evening Star (feat. McGoldrick/McCusker/Doyle)
    Statement of Your Affairs (feat. Jason Mraz)  
    Dear Time (Prelude)
    Dear Time (feat. Jackson Browne with Jeff Hanna)
    Girl, Have Money When You’re Old (feat. Indigo Girls)
    Bluegrass Radio   
    Wall Guitar (Since You Said Goodbye) (feat. Vince Gill)  
    Let’s Get Out of Here