You say Brooklyn, I say … banjo? Brooklyn-born and raised Nora Brown has been described as a banjo prodigy by online magazine World Music Central, and on Sunday, Jan. 5, she’ll show Asheville why at The Grey Eagle. Taught to play ukulele as a 6-year-old by the late old-time musician Shlomo Pestcoe, as Brown’s talent revealed itself, she added fiddle, mandolin, guitar and banjo — which became her musical soulmate — to her repertoire. Brown is known for playing traditional Appalachian music with a focus on banjo styles from eastern Kentucky and Tennessee. She has won numerous banjo and folk song competitions at fiddlers conventions; has toured across the U.S., Europe and Japan; and played renowned festivals, including the Newport Folk Festival, Roskilde Festival in Denmark and the Trans-Pecos Festival of Music + Love in Marfa, Texas. Since 2019, Brown has released four albums on Brooklyn’s Jalopy Records label and performed twice on National Public Radio’s Tiny Desk series. The show is for all ages — a good thing since Brown is just 18. Opening is North Carolina native and now Brooklynite Wyndham Baird. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $17.95 to $29.25. avl.mx/eec Photo courtesy of Nick Loss-Eaton
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