Dayna Kurtz record release tonight!

If you're a fan of artists like Norah Jones, Lucinda Williams or Tom Waits, Gothamist highly recommends New Jerseyan-turned South Sloper Dayna Kurtz, playing tonight at Joe's Pub.

She's just come off a big national tour opening for Richard Thompson, and is builiding a nice buzz in singer-songwriter circles. A recent story on National Public Radio led to her new cd Beautiful Yesterday (released Tuesday) reaching #11 on Amazon.com, before it even went on sale. NPR calls Kurtz's music "hard to categorize....her rich and smoky alto can easily switch from a sensual croon to a blues howl." Listen to their archived interview here.

Look for Kurtz to perform lots tonight off the new cd, which includes covers of Sam Cooke and Leonard Cohen classics, along with her own accomplished songwriting. Oh and for those Norah Jones fans out there, she's also featured on one tune. For more info, check out Kurtz's website.