Nora Brown

Nora Brown started learning music at the age of 6 from the late Shlomo Pestcoe. From his tiny studio apartment in Brooklyn, Pestcoe instilled in her the belief that music is meant to be shared.

Nora plays traditional music with a focus on southern Appalachian banjo and guitar playing. Along with mentors in the northeast like the late John Cohen she also has traveled and learned directly from master musicians including Alice Gerrard, George Gibson and the late Lee Sexton and Art Rosenbaum.

She has played numerous venues and festivals in the US and Europe including the Newport Folkfest, the Philadelphia Folkfest, the Trans-Pecos Festival of Love in Marfa Texas, and Folk Holidays in the Czech Republic. She has performed on NPR’s Tiny Desk, TED Salon, WNYC’s Dolly Parton’s America Podcast and an official showcase at the 2022 Americana Fest in Nashville.

Nora has been interviewed on NPR’s Weekend Edition, WBUR Here and Now and she’s been included on Bob Boilen’s All Songs Considered.

Since 2019 she has released 3 albums on Brooklyn’s own Jalopy Records Label and all records have charted on the Billboard Bluegrass Charts during the first week of release.

The New Yorker called her most recent record Long Time To Be Gone - “A disarming collection of traditional laments and exquisite banjo instrumentals”.