What a way to celebrate the new year — the nationally renowned favorite sons the Seldom Scene with the Eastman String Band also have Nora Jane Struthers on the bill. Struthers is one of the shiny new up-and-coming stars of Americana whose music has caught the ears of many in Nashville, Tenn., for her distinct sound.
| IF YOU GO |
| Nora Jane Struthers |
| » Where: The Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria |
| » When: 8 p.m. Friday |
| » Info: $39.50; ticketmaster.com |
“If you hand my record to a staunch bluegrass fan, he’ll say, ‘That’s not bluegrass because it doesn’t have banjo on some of the songs,’ ” she said. “If you hand it to a folk fanatic, he will say, ‘That’s not folk because it has banjo.’ My music is influenced by both those sounds but not one of them.”
Touring behind her recently released self-titled debut, Struthers left a career as an English teacher to pursue music full-time. The switch came somewhat naturally to her, having grown up singing with her father, Alan, a veteran of the Minneapolis bluegrass scene.
Struthers’ album, produced by Brent Truitt (Dolly Parton, Alison Krauss, Dixie Chicks), includes 11 lovingly crafted original songs plus a cover of the traditional “Say Darlin’ Say.”
Although Truitt played mandolin on the album and assembled Struthers’ wish list of other top musicians to play on the album — acclaimed singer/multi-instrumentalist Tim O’Brien, all-star fiddler Stuart Duncan, award-winning dobro player Rob Ickes, top bluegrass guitarist Bryan Sutton, banjo ace Scott Vestal, veteran bassist Dennis Crouch, and, on backing vocals, do-anything performer Shawn Lane — it’s Struthers’ voice, clear and vibrant as a sunny day, that drives the sound.
Perhaps that’s not surprising when you consider that Struthers was classically trained and started writing her own heartfelt songs in high school — sort of her version of a diary. She performed folk-rock at New York’s CBGB and the Cutting Room when she was a student at New York University.
As Struthers approached her solo album, she was meticulous in her song selection and arrangements.
“The most important thing was just to do right by each song individually,” she said. “I basically brought in a rough [demo of each song] and played it once for the musicians and they are so professional they [picked up the nuances of the songs] right away. It was an amazing experience.”
