Bursie is fond of recalling stories that her Louisiana-born mother often told about her grandfather who traveled throughout the South in the 30's and 40's playing and living the blues. A self-taught guitarist, like her grandfather, Noa plays with unabashed authority and a natural ease, "...like she was born with the instrument in her hand and her grand- daddy's 'mantle' across her shoulders." Her music is a rich and refreshingly unconventional composite of jazz, acoustic new soul, folk, blues, and roots genres. Infused with supple wit and astute, poetic lyricism, the material flows deftly from history and social commentary, politics and the media, to relationships and even extraterrestrials, often evoking comparisons with artists like Rickie Lee Jones, Joan Armatrading, or John Mayer. Whether it's the alternate guitar tunings, smoothly sensuous vocals, edgy wails, or incisive lyrics, this artist has the ability to work the audience up into a dancing sweat as easily as hypnotize them into pin-drop silence with a single phrase. This is music for people who love a little intellectual stimulation with their toe-tapping and finger-popping and is as diverse as you would expect from a woman weaned on Dinah Washington, Aretha Franklin, and Sam Cooke, nurtured in the cradle of Joni Mitchell and James Taylor (with a little Steely Dan in the mix), and sanctified by Bessie Smith, Bonnie Raitt, and Ray Charles.