Nora Jean Bruso

Photo By: james fraher

blues

If the doors to Warmdaddy's start to tremble on Friday night, don't head for the hills — that's just powerhouse singer Nora Jean Bruso. Born in the Mississippi Delta, the child of a sharecropper-bluesman father, young Nora's first musical inspiration was Howlin' Wolf. Later, she took to styling herself after gospel great Mahalia Jackson. Both had huge pipes and so does Bruso, whose tone is raspy and rich like it's coming from way down inside. She's a belter, all right, a powerful singer who commands attention with an emotional delivery that shivers your timbers. Often hailed as the new heir to the "Queen of the Blues" throne, Bruso regularly performs with the legendary Pinetop Perkins in her current hometown of La Porte, Ind. It's only Nora and her band at Warmdaddy's, but it'll still pack a wallop.

Fri., April 22, 9 p.m., 10:30 p.m. and midnight, $10, Warmdaddy's, Front and Market sts., 215-627-8400.

—Deni Kasrel

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