NORA BROWN & STEPHANIE COLEMAN (USA)
OLD-TIME MUSIC FROM THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS PLAYED WITH HUMILITY AND FRESH SWING
ONLY A SIGNIFICANT AGE DIFFERENCE PREVENTS YOU FROM CONSIDERING BANJO PLAYER NORA BROWN AND FIDDLER STEPHANIE COLEMAN AS TWINS. THAT'S HOW INTIMATE THEIR PLAYING AND SINGING SOUNDS
They know each other well from the old-time music community of Brooklyn, New York, where they both live, and in their obsession with the same banjo players they have played together before, but it wasn't until last year's epic Lady of the Lake and a fantastic gig for the Tiny Desk that they made it all perfect. Producer Peter K. Siegel, a guy with a career that includes names like Neil Young, Doc Watson and Bob Dylan, was quick to praise them: "I hear more than the sum of their virtuosity. The music has deep roots in the American tradition, but the excitement of them playing together goes beyond Nora and Stephanie."
They don't compose, and they treat the ancient and countless times-played repertoire from Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina as a gift to be passed on, and like many before them, they heed the demands of today's listeners for whom mere patina is not enough. Thus, to the present day, the compositions of old-time music pioneers Nora and Stephanie are introduced, albeit with humility, but with far more swing and even fiddle drone. "The idea that old-time music is dying out and that not enough people are playing it really strikes me as over-dramatized, and not entirely true," Nora said, and she didn't have to go far for an example. Stephanie has been playing it since she was eight and released her first album at thirteen. Always surrounded by great musicians. In college, she began studying the history of old-time music and is the author of high-profile documentaries and podcasts. Mostly, though, she is a sought-after violinist.
Most of all, however, she is a sought-after violinist. She joined the pioneering all-female old-time band Uncle Earl, led at the time by Abigail Washburne, otherwise the wife of Béla Fleck, with whom Stephanie also played. And also with Rhiannon Giddens and singer-songwriter Aoife O'Donovan. So we can't talk about a coincidence when we meet Nora. These two just had to meet.
Nora Brown personally cleared us of any doubts about another miracle baby. Two years ago, she played and sang at the Folk Festival. She told how she came to banjo and old-time music from the Appalachian Mountains and sounded sincere, smart and grown-up, even though she was only sixteen. Oh well, when someone from a young age is playing so bravura and enjoyable and yet seemingly out of tune, it's pretty hard to imagine that some higher power isn't involved, and some of that "devil from the crossroads" stuff would have been quite fitting in her life story. It's just that it's probably clear to everyone by now that it was diligence and a deep dive into the history of old-time music that turned Nora Brown into a respected musician in the first place, so what a miracle.
Bluegrass has long been said to be a purely male affair.Until the singing banjo players Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard came along in the 1960s and corrected that view, and with a good dose of feminism to boot.Since then, bluegrass has never been what it used to be.Thirty years later, black banjo player Rhiannon Giddens did the same with old-time music from the Appalachian Mountains, with the added reminder that blacks played the same role as whites in it, and with an emphasis on the banjo's African origins.Why are we reminded of this? The legendary Alice Gerrard produced Nora's debut album Cinnamon Tree, and everything Rhiannon Giddens has accomplished so far, Nora has in front of her like a holy picture; plus, they've played together.To make matters worse: she had the iconic John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers as a mentor, a friend of Alice's, a throwback to the days when old-time music met bluegrass, and the discovery of the great Roscoe Holcomb.When he died, Cohen took over his banjo, which Nora now plays after his death.Now, try to think: would it have been possible for Nora to just pass all this on?It goes without saying that no, these contacts with history, underpinned by personal attitudes, define the young New Yorker's work and, ultimately, herself. That's why occasional bandmate Jake Blount - a famous black Appalachian music renovator - recently said of her, "If you're not already listening to Nora Brown, you're wasting your life."
