Photo via Nora Jean Bruso
Nora Jean Bruso
In the well delineated world of authentic Chicago blues, there are several sub-genres. You’ve got guitar slingers, harmonica blowers, soul blues entertainers and also numerous female blues shouters. Nora Jean Bruso falls into the latter category.
This genre was perhaps best exemplified and developed in the 1950s and ‘60s by Koko Taylor and Etta James. More currently, there are contemporary artists mining the same fertile ground. Dietra Farr and Shemeka Copeland have attained a large degree of notoriety singing the blues in front of traditional Chicago blues bands. Nora Jean Bruso, though less well known, is also in the running.
With a throaty contralto voice, Bruso is not afraid to sing with some grit and gravel, while always hitting her notes and expressing an authentic blues attitude that is undeniably expressive and hard hitting.
She has an interesting history. Greenwood Mississippi and the surrounding area of the Mississippi delta is a geographic area where many Chicago blues artists originated, and many think that blues music in general started there.
Born in the mid-1950s and raised in Greenwood, Nora Jean was winning awards with her voice from an early age. She moved to Chicago when she was young, and caught the ear of Koko Taylor herself, who commented that she reminded her of herself at that young age. After making headway on the Chicago blues circuit for 20 years with noted blues stars like Jimmy Dawkins, Brusco put her career on hold to attend to the duties of raising her children.
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Coaxed out of this voluntary retirement a decade later by Wisconsin native Billy Flynn, she resuscitated her singing career with the likes of Carl Weatersby and Dave Specter, both notable presences on the Chicago blues scene.
With numerous recordings on a variety of labels, tours in Europe and America, and a Wikipedia page, Bruso’s star is rising once again. She is a respected presence, taking her place among the elite of traditional female Chicago blues singers.
