Texas is a ripe breeding ground for talent these days, however there’s almost  so much ‘new’ stuff coming out it’s sometimes hard to keep up. One of the best ways to keep on top of what’s happening is the Texas Music Chart. Unlike Billboard where the mainstream artists rule – The Texas Music Chart often introduces promising newcomers and cult-country favorites to a whole new market. One of those promising young newcomers that's benefited from the exposure is Keith Norris.

Raised on country music, Keith Norris has fond memories of his music filled childhood. Although his parents weren’t professionals in the music business, his youth was filled with exposure to a wide breadth of country music flavoured influences. "Very early, Mom and Dad sang and had music in the house all the time. Quite a bit of variety with what we listened to and what they sang. By singing I mean when we were going down the road in the car, or when Dad was working in the yard, something like that, we had a stereo on top and they kept albums that were from Willie Nelson’s early stuff, they sang some of the country music like Ray Price. They also had other stuff like Dean Miller. I remember "You’re Nobody 'til Somebody Loves You". Things like that. I remember Nelson albums around the house. That’s about early as you can get."

When he began to show interest in music as a hobby his parents were behind him 100% with encouragement and actions. Although the family environment stressed a balance between a focus on academics as well as nurturing his creative energies and goals. Although most parents try and talk their children into getting a real job, Keith’s parents went the extra mile during Norris formative years to foster his creative energies and in turn helped set the foundation of exposure and experience that benefits him now in a profession that can show more valleys than mountain peaks at times. 

I have to give my parents credit, they did encourage the creativity and were very supportive in every way they could be in terms of when I was in elementary school, and I wanted to have piano lessons, they found someone and I got piano lessons. When I wanted to play guitar they went to Sears and got me a guitar. They were very supportive e in that respect. Dad was really the reason we were able to go and do a lot of the shows we did when we got to the junior high years. On the flipside, they did use it as a tool too. It was always a known rule in our house that any of the kids in the band, and a lot of my early bands were made up of 12 and 13 year old kids, you kept your grades up in school or else they would cancel rehearsals or you wouldn’t be involved in them until your grades were up. There was never any question in my high school years, that when I got out of school I would got to college and get a degree of some sort. That was just the function of our family. It was never school or music, it was just a matter of you would have to do both for awhile."

"I think they did a good job of doing all things parents have to do. They have that many things going on in the house and to keep me as a very young child involved in both and not letting one take over the other. My parents are still supportive of anything they could possibly do to help they would do if it was within their means at all."

These days Norris lives in Tennessee but spends a fair bit of time revisiting his roots in Texas. The state has been good to him and his music. "Fortunately be design, having grown up and playing gigs and  being a part of Texas through my childhood and college, it seemed to be a natural that when I got the album cut and got ready to get back out and kind of beat the streets again," he shares "It made sense that where to go was back to Texas because a) I would use an excuse to go back there and b) because that it is very close to my style and I think that you want to go back home and take your music there and hopefully get the support of the folks there. Its always a lot easier to break in a new record with someone you know."

Although there are plenty of folks who'll be quick to point out the pitfalls of doing business in Nashville, Norris manages to find the good amongst the bad and finds no trouble in being loyal to both his home state as well as his adopted one. "I think to me both have something great to offer, the fact of the matter is, we’re in a new decade, new generations have come to Nashville when they wanted to record a record, when the wanted to be writers. At a certain level I think someone like Willie Nelson is a good example. He was down there writing great stuff, eventually he moved to Nashville and made a career. He kept what he wanted to keep and threw out what he wanted to throw out. In the long run he was back in Texas, I think he learned a lot from both places."

"I try to keep the Texas part of me. It’s a big part of me. I think there are a lot of wonderful things that come with that. There’s a lot of great country music that comes out of Texas because of the influence it has. I also recognize that dynamite writers here are from there and some of the world’s best musicians have come here. You can definitely learn a lot from these guys."

The terms traditional and traditionalist can sometimes be met with a little trepidation these days with some folks considering the words as labels of outsiders and renegades or worse yet a reference to music that is retro or dated. Norris is a little cautious about boxing himself in although he appreciates that most people would consider his music part of today's traditional fare. " I don’t run away from the term traditional or traditionalist. I think there’s a big element in me. I think that my definition of traditionalist matches a whole lot of other people’s definitions. There’s good music being made out there today so how do you figure out where the line is drawn?"

"My roots in traditional country music. I feel very strong in what I do. At the same time I think that there is a contemporary element that comes along with it too. Hurt Me All Me All The Time was a really neat song it that it blended a real traditional country sound but it was a little edgier and had a little more of a contemporary feel to it at the same time. We went with a very strong fiddle and steel approach and story line. I kinda enjoyed trying to mix the two."

He's also not afraid to touch serious topics such alcoholism or suicide on his album. And although he doubts the music will ever see the light of day on radio, he's still holding out hope. "Ultimately I would love to see a change in the climate at radio to embrace what I’m doing. That song can be acceptable to go on the air. I think a lot of people, when we play that song live, a lot of people gravitate towards it. Whether they really love the message or not, they still feel something important in what it’s saying. Ultimately I would love to see it may it on the air and an audience that is willing to give it a shot and hear it."

"One of the things I’m sure music that makes country music it is that its not supposed to be afraid to dig into people’s lives not only shows the good side but some of the crummy stuff too." he continues. "That is one of the songs that I feel has shown a darker side of life in the world. I think that listeners appreciate the topic and respect them for what they are."

He points to one of the issues of songs getting airplay this days is the lack of balance in their perspective. It’s gotten one sided. There’s a lot of happy and falling in love in Paris songs. I think people actually want to hear some of the other stuff. There’s that certain thing that misery loves company. There are those people out there going through things like this. It is within the power of the song to reach out to them and say ‘Hey, you’re not the only one. It’s just as bad for other people too."

Although he’ll admit to getting discouraged at times, enough to even consider falling back on that university degree, but his never say die attitude and high personal goals keeps his focus and energy at a high level. "My long term goal is to first achieve global domination in music and be heard in every single nook and cranny in the world." he laughs "So I’m still working on that. I don’t believe in narrowing my options. If we find life on another planet I will be one of the first guys shipping a record there."

With narrowing his ultimate goal not even up for consideration, Norris climbs the mountain ahead at a steady pace with his short term goals seeing him branching out of the comforting confines of Texas as his touring schedule expands to include a healthy stack of southern states including Okalahoma, Louisiana and Georgia. Watch for him to come your way and make the time to check his music out. You won't be disappointed.

Laurie Joulie Take Country Back January 2003

Take a wander over to Keith's official site for a visit!