Steve Martin, Alison Brown Set Banjo Album With Many Special Guests

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Steve Martin and Alison Brown (Photo: Beth Herzhaft; used with permission)

GRAMMY Award-winning banjoists Steve Martin and Alison Brown have announced their debut collaborative album, Safe, Sensible and Sane. The title, coming October 17, 2025, via Compass Records, features guest appearances from Jackson Browne, Vince Gill, the Indigo Girls, Tim O’Brien, Jason Mraz, Della Mae, and more. It’s available for pre-order in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.

The pair have released “Dear Time” (featuring Browne with Hanna). From the August 22 announcement: 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 Martin and Browne 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 musician.

“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,” says Martin. “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,’” says Brown. “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, Safe, Sensible and Sane includes “5 Days Out, 2 Days Back” featuring 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” (featuring Aoife O’Donovan with Sarah Jarosz), a bittersweet reverie adorned with the breezy rhythms of bossa nova, and “Money When You’re Old” (featuring the Indigo Girls), a harmony-fueled track with Amy Ray and Emily Sailers trading off lead vocals.

Brown, who turned 63 on August 7, and Martin, who turned 80 on August 14, 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. The album was co-produced by Brown and her husband, Garry West.

Steve Martin and Alison Brown 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

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 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. 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. Brown co-founded the groundbreaking roots-music label Compass Records with West in 1995. Brown and Martin will co-host the International Bluegrass Music Awards next month in Chattanooga.