How Steve Martin & Alison Brown Accidentally Made a Star-Studded, Eclectic Bluegrass Album: ‘It Was Incredibly Organic’

Banjoists Alison Brown and Steve Martin’s first collaborative album, Safe, Sensible and Sane, comes out today on Brown’s Compass Records, but the pair never intended to make a full-fledged album — let alone a star-studded project.

“It was incredibly organic,” Brown said, seated backstage with Martin as the two prepared to co-host the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Awards last month in Chattanooga, Tennessee. “We just kept writing songs, and then at one point we realized we had enough songs to put a bow around it to make a record.”

The two had previously collaborated on “Foggy Morning Breaking,” an interpretive tribute to Earl Scruggs’ classic, which was included on Brown’s 2023 album On Banjo and spent 13 weeks at No. 1 on Bluegrass Today’s Grassicana chart.

“It was really just us communicating by text and working it out,” Martin recalled. “She sent me this beautiful music, and asked, ‘Can you write a few bars?’ So, I worked on that. We put the song out, and it went to No. 1. And that kind of made me feel like, ‘Wow, a No. 1 bluegrass song,’ so then we wrote ‘Bluegrass Radio’ [featured on Safe, Sensible and Sane], about a guy who is so happy that his song went No. 1.”

From there, they slowly began adding to their collection of tunes, including the bluegrass and country melding, somber heartbreaker “Wall Guitar (Since You Said Goodbye),” with lyrics by Martin, music by Brown, and vocals from Country Music Hall of Famer Vince Gill.

“I’ve known Vince since he moved to California when I was a kid, and he was like 19,” Brown said. “He moved out there to play with [fiddle legend] Byron Berline & Sundance and I’ve known him that long. We just thought he’d be the perfect person to sing it. He’s the king of Nashville for a reason. He’s one of the most generous musical spirits there is.”

Gill isn’t the only generous musician on the album, a 12-song set that is built around friendship and musical respect. The project also features Aoife O’Donovan, Sarah Jarosz, Jason Mraz, Jackson Browne, Jeff Hanna, Indigo Girls and Della Mae, though Martin insisted it was never designed to be a guest-heavy record.

“The good news is, neither one of us are really singers, so with any song with lyrics, we’d have to say, ‘Well, who can sing it?’ We ended up with some amazing people,” Martin said.

The album’s sonic tapestry is anything but restricted, ranging from the bossa nova inspirations of “Michael,” featuring O’Donovan and Jarosz, to the tropical-leaning “Statement of Your Affairs” with Jason Mraz.

Both Martin and Brown bring their distinct musical legacies to the project. Brown became the first woman to win an IBMA instrumental award when she was named banjo player of the year in 1991. She co-founded Compass Records with her husband Garry West in 1995, building it into one of roots music’s most respected independent labels. She’s released 12 solo albums, produced acclaimed projects for artists such as Bobby Osborne and Claire Lynch, and won a Grammy for best country instrumental performance in 2001 for “Leaving Cottondale,” her collaboration with Béla Fleck.

Texas native Martin, a five-time Grammy-winning comedian, actor, writer, producer and musician, found his love for banjo as a teenager, inspired by The Kingston Trio, the Dillards and Scruggs. Early on, he began using the instrument in his comedy routines. In 2001, he won his first instrumental category Grammy for a performance of “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” alongside Scruggs, Gill, Marty Stuart and Jerry Douglas. His 2010 album The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo won a Grammy for best bluegrass album, and six of his projects have topped Billboard’s Top Bluegrass Albums chart. In 2011, Martin and Steep Canyon Rangers earned the IMBA’s entertainer of the year award.

Brown and Martin’s musical partnership began years ago, following a chance encounter when both were vacationing in the Caribbean Islands.

“Alison brought her banjo over, and we all played, and she’s a great banjo player,” Martin recalled. “Steve is a unicorn in the banjo, world because he plays a great clawhammer [style of banjo picking] and great three-finger banjo. Most people pick a lane,” Brown said.

During this year’s IBMA Awards, another song from the album, “5 Days Out, 2 Days Back,” with revered multi-instrumentalist Tim O’Brien, picked up a trio of nominations, including song of the year. The song was born of Martin’s deep experience of the life of an itinerant musician.

“When we were working on it at the very beginning, I just remember Steve saying, ‘There’s no judgment here.’ This is just like, this is the way this guy’s life is, and nobody’s being judgmental about it,’” Brown said. “That phrase ‘five days out, two days back’ seemed a little poetic and a little enigmatic, but also very clear if you’re a traveling musician,” Martin added.

That sense of unbounded creativity extends to “New Cluck Old Hen” featuring Della Mae, a reimagined, updated take on a folk classic. “I love the melody for banjo…I think we did the song onstage once, and later realized the song was actually a bit misogynist,” Martin said. “So, Alison had the idea to come up with an answer section, which completed the song.”

“It told you the energy it needed to have,” Brown said. “We had the best time cutting that track.”

“Dear Time,” with Browne and Hanna, provides a personal, gratitude-filled reflection on the passing of years. The tune’s music video was filmed at the revered Troubadour in West Hollywood—an especially meaningful venue, as both Browne and Martin played there early in their careers.

“I wrote the song when I was 79, I’ve since turned 80, but I said, ‘I should theoretically be able to write a song about aging without being bitter,’” Martin said. “The idea of a letter to time came to me, because when you write a letter to somebody, you’re logical, not angry. And then, Alison’s brilliance, she starts working the melody around it and we collaborated on other passages or verses of the song.”

Martin’s renowned quick wit served as the inspiration for “Girl, Have Money When You’re Old,” featuring Indigo Girls. “I was at a show business event. There was an actor there and we were having dinner at the show,” he said. “I was in a funny mood, so I leaned over to him — he’s a young actor — and said, ‘Hey, can I give you some advice?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, please,’ thinking of career advice, and I said, ‘Have money when you’re old.’ I remembered it later and was like, ‘It’s kind of funny, but it’s true.’ And these songs, sometimes your first instinct is, ‘Is it too much? Is that insulting? And in ‘Dear Time,’ there’s the line, ‘I want to throw the ball with my old dog.’ We were worried it might be too sentimental.”

“When Steve sent the song to me, one line was ‘Got to have a listen, son,’” Brown said of the song’s shifting sentiments. “It was written from a male point of view, but to me, from a female point of view, it has even more power. It’s empowerment and feminist, so we needed to find women who had enough life experience and gravitas.”

Martin is on tour with fellow comedian and Only Murders in the Building co-star Martin Short, with Brown appearing on select dates, including a show tonight in Knoxville, Tenn. Brown also has a slate of solo shows in Florida in November, while Steep Canyon Rangers will make appearances at other upcoming shows with Martin and Short.

Both say there is the potential for more collaborative works in the future, though they are letting their creative inspirations lead the way, with no expectations attached.

“This worked because there wasn’t that pressure to it,” Brown said. “And hopefully we can keep writing songs.”