Old Soul Country Crooner Henry Norwood At The ABC Hall

Nov 07, 2013

Henry Norwood, a 15-year-old country crooner with an old country soul, charmed and impressed listeners at his one set performance at the ABC Hall in Bolingbroke on November 1.

Norwood rose to fame as the youngest entrant (he was just 14 years old at the time) in the country-wide CBC Ottawa Seachlight competition for singer/songwriters and he finished in the top four. His entry to the contest was his "first shot at song writing”. It was an original song titled “Another Bottle, Another Day”, which he finished writing and recording on his iphone only the night before the competition deadline.

Henry informed the audience that it was his mother who that night “bugged” him to finish his song and enter it in the competition. Her urging paid off big time and Norwood almost instantly became a cross-country household name, which by no means has changed his humble nature.

Norwood is a real charmer, with an easy-going stage presence, but it's his extraordinary gifts as a singer/songwriter and guitar player, skills that he honed while playing on local stages in and around his home town of Perth since he was 11 years old, that won over not only country music fans across the country but the sizable Friday night crowd in Boilingbroke.

Those who prefer the grittier and gutsier old country tunes by such legends as Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings, who are all artists that Norwood admires, cannot help but appreciate Norwood's old country style, a style unique in one so young. He opened his set with a upbeat cover of "Rollin' In My Sweet Baby's Arms", a tune he delivered with aplomb in his unmistakable soft, raspy and pitch-perfect voice, and which he accompanied with his impressive finger picking. His set was comprised primarily of laid-back, heartfelt older country ballads, tunes like Ian Tyson's "Summer Wages" (both his and Tyson's favorite). Ballads seem best to fit Norwood's musical style and they showcase not only his impeccable phrasing, but a voice that is mature beyond his years. He played his now famous first original tune - "Another Bottle, Another Day" which garnered from critics both praise and pecks. The latter were due to the song's subject matter of hard drinking.

His cover of Vince Gill's "Go Rest High On That Mountain" demonstrated his amazing vocal range, with soaring highs and way down lows, and his version of Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried" shows that he has the chops to tackle the great old classics, songs that have helped to shape him musically.

Norwood also offered up his second shot at original song writing, a tune called "Will Memories Never Lie", which pays homage to the old greats like Haggard and George Jones.

Mike Irvin, who co-founded the ABC hall's music series along with Mike Erion, hosted the Friday night show and did a brief Q&A with Norwood mid-way through his set. Asked of his plans musically for the future, Norwood said that he hopes to record a full album of all original tunes in the next two years.

With his 16th birthday not until next May, Norwood need not rush it. Though his rushed first shot at songwriting catapulted him into the limelight, it seems that he has earned the right to enjoy his teenagedom and also the right to take the time he needs to make his song writing magic happen. No doubt his fans will be waiting with bated breath.

The ABC hall's music series, which is known as the Bolingbroke Café, happens regularly on the first Friday of the month unless otherwise noted. On Friday December 6 the Sullivan/Dorner family band “Bob Spelled Backwards” will be performing. Admission is $10. The doors open at 7pm; the music starts at 8pm and light refreshments are available. The ABC Hall is located at 3166 County Road 36 just north of Bolingbroke.