How to understand if the new album is good? If the public doesn’t know new songs and can’t sing along, but they start clapping along, it is definitely a success.
And that’s what happened at Art Concepts Custom Framing, where Estevan's very own popular country musician Chris Henderson shared his new album Point of View with the public at his CD release party Saturday night.
Throughout the night Henderson introduced the new singles. Hilarious and sincere, he shared the stories behind the latest and some of the old songs, inviting the guests to come along on an adventure through his new album.
“It’s called Point of View, and this will be my fourth studio project now, which is hard to believe over the years,” said Henderson in an interview with the Mercury.
With the way the music industry is these days, albums are now shorter. The new CD, consisting of six EP songs and an acoustic bonus track, is different from the previous ones.
“I’m trying to show a little bit of maturity in my performing and my writing ... I think with this one, in particular, I tackled some more real issues than maybe I have in the past,” said Henderson.
The title track tells a story of Henderson’s friend who had thoughts of committing suicide but found the strength to call 911. Henderson said that lately he was learning more about mental health and is open to help people who feel depressed and have dark thoughts. Henderson said people can reach out to him, and he will do his best, and if he can’t help he will redirect them the right way.
Even though the new album turned out more serious, it still had a couple of catchy funny songs.
Henderson invited Forget’s young talent Micah Walbaum to open the concert and also had her join him singing the new single I’ll be your Mountain, which along with Didn't Want my Sweater Back made the public quickly memorize the words to join the performers. At the end of the night, Henderson pledged 25 per cent of his new CD sales towards Walbaum’s first recording.
The new songs that night were intertwined with a couple of covers and some good old hits, which were also greatly appreciated by the public. But not all songs can fit into a concert frame nowadays.
“I remember the time when I could play every song I had in my bag of tricks and barely filled out the show. And these days I had to cut out a bunch of songs that I want to play,” said Henderson.
The intimate setting of the art gallery made the home concert even more warm and sincere. And that resonated with Henderson’s expectations.
“Estevan is my hometown. Anytime I come down to Estevan for a show, I know there always will be a kind of people there that support me and encourage me with what I do. And I always leave the town feeling good about things and knowing that there is some support at home. And as a bonus, I get to see my mother,” said Henderson.
He also mentioned that he really enjoys performing in Canada in general as opposed to going abroad.
“I’ve really focused on my Canadian audience for the last few years. I’ve always said I’ll go when I’m asked, and that happens once in a while, but I really like to focus on Canada myself,” said Henderson. “I’ve had a nice career here and I have a lot of support here… And I’m very thankful to my Canadian audience.”
The night, filled with laughs and great music, had the crowd singing and clapping along. Several special guests including Hook and Nail came to Art Concepts for the concert, which turned out to be a mosaics consisting of music, surprises, stories and memorable moments.
Henderson took time to congratulate Susan Colbow, who also was at the concert, on her Kinnette life membership and recalled the feelings they shared when Telemiracle numbers got over the record $7 million in 2018.
The concert came to an end with a standing ovation, followed by a bonus Save a Horse [Ride a Cowboy], performed by Henderson and Aaron Walbaum for Art Concepts co-owner and Henderson’s good friend Byron Fichter.
Henderson will be back in the southeast in December when he will perform at the Happy Nun Café in Forget. He also has a few other concerts scheduled before the end of this year in Saskatchewan, and then he plans to go on a longer tour in the new year. He’s been working in Alberta for years and was performing more and more in Ontario lately.
