On Friday, January 12th, at 9:00 p.m., two of Shreveport’s newest bands will be converging for a night of sonic stardom. Ouro Boar and Chelsea Norman with her Band will be playing at Bear’s that night and time – and I couldn’t be more excited.
I’m a fanboy and so I’m not even going try to hide it. These two acts have been practicing in my apartment for a year. Well, below my apartment in a studio tucked away in a nondescript building on the west end of Texas Street in downtown Shreveport. I’ve listened on countless nights and Sunday afternoons to them, hearing the evolution of their work and I can tell you, without hesitation, that they are both fantastic.
Not only is the music of both bands enthralling (on opposite ends of the sonic spectrum), the stories behind them are fascinating and inspiring. Robert Trudeau penned an info-packed round up of the fantastic musicians behind Ouro Boar (read it here), so I’m going to spend my time talking about the debut of Chelsea Norman.
Now, those who know Chelsea might be confused by my classification of Chelsea’s show as a debut. Like many of her fans, I first heard Chelsea when she was singing for the high school folk band Her Sweet Autumn Misery. That was over 12 years ago, and a project that included her perpetual musician partners Benjamin Densmore and lead vocalist Landon Miller. The trio also performed together on Shreveport mainstay tracks from Engine and The Wall Chargers – the last of which is still performing. She also was a part of Victor Olston, New Leaves, and toured playing keys for Dylan LeBlanc.
So why, then, do I choose call this show of Chelsea’s, a seasoned musician who has been performing for well over a decade, a debut? Plain and simple: this is a new start for her. After Engine, Chelsea took a hiatus from the performance realm for quite a time, moving to New Orleans and having a daughter. After those major and overlapping life challenges, she’s getting back into performing – but now she’s at the helm.
“I’ve spent a good bit of time looking for the perfect lineup and vibe and visuals to represent these songs so that we can create this sort of soundscape that I envisioned. It was well worth the wait,” Norman said of her new endeavor.
“My band (Jerry Lee, Shawn Stroope, Josh Hollis, and Chris Morgan) has been so amazing and patient with me and has really gone above and beyond in not only bringing my vision to life but also in taking the songs and really anticipating where the magic lies and making it something absolutely alive and our own.”
She has been in pursuit of polishing a new voice with a new set of equally talented performers. They all have impressive resumes and are at the top of their game. It would be hard to even begin talking about what they’ve done. And that, my friends, is why I’m excited about this Friday (January 12), where you can hear Chelsea Norman with her Band for the first time alongside the indomitable Ouro Boar. Chelsea has spent most of her life reaching this point of performance perfection, and you should be there to witness it.
“This show will be my first full band show of originals in over three years and I am humbled and absolutely ecstatic to have it be a fundraiser for our record as well as for the record of my favorite local band Ouro Boar. We love all of the dudes in Ouro Boar and are huge fans of their music and what they are doing to revive and refresh the Shreveport music scene. It would mean everything to us to have people come out and support what we’ve been creating and help us raise money to get our records out!”
See Chelsea Norman and Her Band with Ouro Boar this Friday, 9:00 p.m. at Bear’s (1401 Fairfield Avenue).
RSVP on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/172075603387527/
Some months ago, I saw Chelsea perform solo at minicine? on Texas Avenue. Watch a clip below.