Alison Brown To Be Honored At 17th Annual Louise Scruggs Memorial Forum

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Alison Brown will be honored by The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum at its 17th Annual Louise Scruggs Memorial Forum on Aug. 13 at 6:30 p.m. in the museum’s Ford Theater.

The annual forum, which began in 2007, recognizes music industry leaders who continue the legacy of trailblazer Louise Scruggs, a formidable businesswoman who set new professional standards in artist management. The program will explore Brown’s more than 35 years as a musician, producer, songwriter and record label executive and will be led by Museum Writer-Editor Allison Moorer.

Brown began playing banjo as a teen while growing up in Southern California. She attended Harvard University, earned an MBA from UCLA, and worked in investment banking until she realized she missed making music. After an offer from Alison Krauss to play banjo in her band Union Station, Brown gave up her corporate career to play music full time. She released her Grammy-nominated debut album Simple Pleasures in 1990, and became the first woman to win the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Banjo Player of the Year award in 1991.

Known for her innovative blend of diverse musical styles, Brown has recorded 12 solo albums and has produced projects for Claire Lynch, Bobby Osborne and Peter Rowan, among others. Brown won a Grammy for Best Country Instrumental Performance in 2001 for “Leaving Cottondale,” a collaboration with Béla Fleck from her album Fairweather, and was inducted into the American Banjo Hall of Fame in 2019. In 1995, she co-founded Compass Records with her husband, Garry West, and over the last 30 years, the label has amassed a catalog of more than 1,000 releases across multiple imprints.

The program is free and open to the public and tickets can be reserved here.

Lorie Hollabaugh
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