Well, things have changed in the world of Nora Brown since we last featured her here on the Tracks sections. Gone are recording in a stone cellar under the roads of Brooklyn. In comes recording in a cavernous church. Gone are the fifteen year old banjo genius. In comes the sixteen year old banjo genius. Nora Brown has a new album soon to come out, ‘Long Time To Be Gone‘ hits the streets on August 26th. And it is every bit as good as ‘Sidetrack My Engine’.
Nora Brown is prodigiously good on the banjo, and she knows what she’s doing with developing her sound. She says of the new album “I recorded my last project in an underground tunnel but this time we were working in a cavernous church, which allowed us to really experiment with all the sounds that different locations in the sanctuary and different mic configurations could produce. When you listen, you can hear the expanse of the space pretty clearly, which was really important to our approach on these recordings.”
It’s not just the banjo though (although that would be enough), Nora Brown also provides the perfect vocal accompaniment conveying a sense of a timeless continuity to the songs.
I’d not heard of Nora Brown, but I love ‘Little Satchel’ by The Wandering Ramblers (also on Dirk Powell’s ‘If I Go Ten Thousand Miles’). I listened to a few tracks from Nora’s first two albums. Such an astonishing voice and great playing. I expect it’s been said already but she puts me in mind of Karen Dalton.
Thanks for the introduction.
Oh yes, there’s definitely a touch of Karen Dalton in there – a wonderfully unaffected directness. Really glad you liked it!
Jonathan, I discovered the wonder of Nora Brown through Sidetrack. A glorious record.
Do you have any idea if Jalopy plans to make copies available on vinyl in the UK? I reached out via Bandcamp but heard nothing back. I am hoping they will as that postage on Bandcamp is huge!
Hi Paul – yes vinyl will be available in the UK via Proper Distribution – but the advice is to place an order with your local record shop on the early side, as quantities are going to be somewhat limited and experience is that her releases always sell out pretty fast!