Bluesman Jeff Norwood plays Midnight Rooster
Nick Hilbourn/Morning News
Published: March 10, 2009
Hartsville bluesman Jeff Norwood bares the simple, sorrowful sound of the Mississippi Delta Blues, a bottleneck slide drawn painfully across his strings with nearly spoken-word lyrics echoing over their sharp rattling guitar song. He’s a bard for the Pee Dee, juxtaposing his performance last Friday night with memories from high school (I think there was a reunion in town), and it fit with his performance, which uses mysterious, cryptic anthems to a steady style of Delta Blues, one of the earliest forms of blues music. Norwood found the Delta Blues by accident while he was playing in bars across the Southeast. Yet, it’s been something he has held onto tightly and one that makes his act an easy and attractive listen.
Country Store Porch Troubadour
Norwood’s songs are part moralistic tale, part of nostalgic and part myth all spread atop a squealing, sliding acoustic guitar that refuses to let up. When he came to the Rooster, he brought a crew of friends who made their own front row, eating dinner and cheering on Norwood. He had made the stage into his own front porch, setting little trinkets on it with him. It looked more like a country store porch he was playing on than a coffee shop stage. Norwood’s songs are simple, sort of like church hymns, after a couple of lines you catch on, and you can sing along if you like. But if you allow yourself to be lulled into the sweet perfume of his song and sliding guitar, you’ll miss out on some of his song’s hidden gems and hints to the reasons behind his style.
There’s a bluesman in the room.
Many of the songs he sang last Friday evening were off his new album “Awendaw,” recorded in the South Carolina town of the same name. Norwood opened his first set with heavy shoes and a guitar with his feet resting on a milk crate that he took to stomping on for percussion. It was truly the blues. As he said in between songs, “Sell your drum sets and buy a milk crate.” Although Norwood is by no means a poor blues musician who has sold his soul to the devil for talent, he presents himself as such with songs of lamentation about missed chances, meeting the devil and trials and triumphs of making his way across the South as a catfish. “Bad Ass Boogie” traces the history of his music style to the swamps of the Mississippi Delta. He admitted in the middle of the song, “The Bad Ass Boogie ... I’m not quite sure how to play it, but I can feel it when it’s in the room.” And that’s how his music comes out. It seems deceptively easy, but the play is all in the person, and the only person who can play it is Jeff Norwood. As humble as he appears, when he walks into a room, something changes, something is different. A bluesman has entered the fray. A little later, he played “Horny Road,” a nostalgic piece about a road he remembered from his high school days that, if you can guess from title, was a favorite of many high school couples.
Organic blues
A clear characteristic of Norwood’s music is its organic nature. It’s something he recognizes and said he tried to catch on his most recent release “Awendaw.” It was recorded outside at times, he said, and the noises of the wildlife and insects was kept in the background.Truly, the audience is as important to his show as he is, as they sing along to his verses adding to the cacophony going on with his clumping heels against the milk crate and any other sounds he manages to make while still keeping both hands on the guitar.
To get a better idea of Norwood’s style, visit his mySpace page at myspace.com/jeffnorwoodblues.
To listen to tracks or buy his new album, “Awendaw,” visit cdbaby.com/cd/norwoodjeff.
Published: March 10, 2009
Hartsville bluesman Jeff Norwood bares the simple, sorrowful sound of the Mississippi Delta Blues, a bottleneck slide drawn painfully across his strings with nearly spoken-word lyrics echoing over their sharp rattling guitar song. He’s a bard for the Pee Dee, juxtaposing his performance last Friday night with memories from high school (I think there was a reunion in town), and it fit with his performance, which uses mysterious, cryptic anthems to a steady style of Delta Blues, one of the earliest forms of blues music. Norwood found the Delta Blues by accident while he was playing in bars across the Southeast. Yet, it’s been something he has held onto tightly and one that makes his act an easy and attractive listen.
Country Store Porch Troubadour
Norwood’s songs are part moralistic tale, part of nostalgic and part myth all spread atop a squealing, sliding acoustic guitar that refuses to let up. When he came to the Rooster, he brought a crew of friends who made their own front row, eating dinner and cheering on Norwood. He had made the stage into his own front porch, setting little trinkets on it with him. It looked more like a country store porch he was playing on than a coffee shop stage. Norwood’s songs are simple, sort of like church hymns, after a couple of lines you catch on, and you can sing along if you like. But if you allow yourself to be lulled into the sweet perfume of his song and sliding guitar, you’ll miss out on some of his song’s hidden gems and hints to the reasons behind his style.
There’s a bluesman in the room.
Many of the songs he sang last Friday evening were off his new album “Awendaw,” recorded in the South Carolina town of the same name. Norwood opened his first set with heavy shoes and a guitar with his feet resting on a milk crate that he took to stomping on for percussion. It was truly the blues. As he said in between songs, “Sell your drum sets and buy a milk crate.” Although Norwood is by no means a poor blues musician who has sold his soul to the devil for talent, he presents himself as such with songs of lamentation about missed chances, meeting the devil and trials and triumphs of making his way across the South as a catfish. “Bad Ass Boogie” traces the history of his music style to the swamps of the Mississippi Delta. He admitted in the middle of the song, “The Bad Ass Boogie ... I’m not quite sure how to play it, but I can feel it when it’s in the room.” And that’s how his music comes out. It seems deceptively easy, but the play is all in the person, and the only person who can play it is Jeff Norwood. As humble as he appears, when he walks into a room, something changes, something is different. A bluesman has entered the fray. A little later, he played “Horny Road,” a nostalgic piece about a road he remembered from his high school days that, if you can guess from title, was a favorite of many high school couples.
Organic blues
A clear characteristic of Norwood’s music is its organic nature. It’s something he recognizes and said he tried to catch on his most recent release “Awendaw.” It was recorded outside at times, he said, and the noises of the wildlife and insects was kept in the background.Truly, the audience is as important to his show as he is, as they sing along to his verses adding to the cacophony going on with his clumping heels against the milk crate and any other sounds he manages to make while still keeping both hands on the guitar.
To get a better idea of Norwood’s style, visit his mySpace page at myspace.com/jeffnorwoodblues.
To listen to tracks or buy his new album, “Awendaw,” visit cdbaby.com/cd/norwoodjeff.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mary Anne McLaurin on -
Aside from a couple mistakes, and leaving the LIVEBLUESWORLD link out, we are pleased with this performance review!
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Permalink Reply by Eric on -
It's a terrific review! Congrats Jeff. And I'll second all of that...Jeff was a highlight of last year's juke joint fest for sure!
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Permalink Reply by Mary Anne McLaurin on
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Thanks Eric!
© 2012 Created by Eric.
