Nora O'Connor

Nora O’Connor is a Chicago-based musician. Though primarily known for her vocals, O'Connor also plays guitar and bass. For much of 2013, O'Connor toured internationally as a singer in Iron and Wine, and she continues to record and perform with longtime collaborator, Andrew Bird. O'Connor plays bass and sings back-up for Kelly Hogan (supporting Hogan's release "I Like To Keep Myself In Pain" on ANTI- Records) and in 2010, Wilco's Jeff Tweedy enlisted O'Connor and Hogan as primary vocalists on gospel legend Mavis Staples’ Grammy Award-winning album You Are Not Alone. In the studio and on the stage, O'Connor has backed (among others) Neko Case, Jakob Dylan, The New Pornographers, Archer Prewitt, Hushdrops, Justin Roberts and Robbie Fulks.
Her first solo CD on Bloodshot Records, Til the dawn, was released on August 24, 2004. However, an earlier CD, the very rare Cerulean Blue, was released by Uncommon Ground Coffeehouse in Chicago.
In the mid-1990s, she formed the Nora O'Connor Band, with herself on lead vocals and guitar, Lisa Wertman Crowe on bass and vocals, Tony Ventura on guitar and Mark Cameron on drums.
Other Collaborative Projects:
The Flat Five: a "song interpreters" band made up of Kelly Hogan, Nora O'Connor, Scott Ligon, Casey McDonough and Gerald Dowd, typically perform annually at the Hideout (Chicago) holiday show.
The Lamentations: gospel duo with Kelly Hogan and Nora O'Connor.
The Love Hall Tryst - Songs of Misfortune: mostly a capella British folk music performed by indie supergroup composed of originator John Wesley Harding, Kelly Hogan, Nora O’Connor, and Brian Lohmann.
O'Connor has two sons, and lives in Evanston, Illinois.

Solo

• Cerulean Blue (1996, Uncommon Ground)
• Til the Dawn (2004, Bloodshot Records)

The Blacks

• Dolly Horrorshow (1998, Bloodshot)
• Just Like Home (2000, Bloodshot)
• In Sickness and Health EP (2010, 6-song digital download, Bloodshot)

Miscellaneous

• Happy – Robbie Fulks (2010, Yep Roc)
• You Are Not Alone – Mavis Staples (2010, ANTI-)
• Tomorrow – Hushdrops