Norm Brunet
Stay tuned for a new song, “She Makes Me Look Good” dropping on January 25th, sure to be an instant hit and just in time for Valentine’s Day… With a new album in the works for release in the fall of 2019, Norm recently released the first single off of it called, “She Makes It Hard To Walk Away” in October 2018 and getting lots of attention at Country/Americana radio around the world! VETERAN CANADIAN/AMERICANA SINGER/SONGWRITER NORM BRUNET FLEXES HIS SPOT-ON STORYTELLING SKILLS ON HIS FIRST- EVER U.S. FULL LENGTH ALBUM
In the fall of 2017, as Norm Brunet was gearing up to promote his latest album – It Don’t Get Better Than This and his first one to be released in the U.S., the veteran singer/ songwriter and consummate musical storyteller made the rounds at several publishing companies on a visit to Nashville to perform at several venues. Embracing his songs and inviting with a whiskey-throated voice, the unanimous response was, “Wow, nice Americana!” which struck the Quebec born, Ottawa based artist as ironic, considering the fact that he had always been categorized a country artist back home. “They don’t have Americana where I come from,” he laughs. “And no one has formally coined the term ‘Canadiana’ as a spin off of Country Music yet. But if being promoted to the Americana format helps get my music out there, I’m all for it!”
Brunet has been something of a low key icon in Canada, spending years performing across the country, fuelled by the success of his debut album “Me and My Guitar”– which spawned four charting singles and his follow up “Life Goes On”, which also included one chart single, Larry Delaney, editor of Canadian Country Music News, writes; ? “Norm’s smokey-throated vocal work has a special attractiveness that keeps you listening for more. His voice rings with experience and texture. As a songwriter, his versatility comes to the forefront with an intuitive ability to take everyday situations and turn them into songs, not just grooves on discs but observances of life.” Susan Beyer of The Ottawa Citizen adds, “The tunes are exceptional! Substance? Plenty! Hooks? Norm could open his own tackle shop!”
So as U.S. Americana fans come to embrace a seasoned pro who can sing wistfully about pet adoption and love at first site with his late beloved pit bull-boxer mix Cody, rescued from the Humane Society, (the country-blues romp “Like Out of a Dream”) and the joy of “Good Times and Tan Lines,” We should offer a full geographic disclaimer. Brunet also has a second home in South Florida, where he filmed a solo performance of the country/rock tinged ballad title track on a windswept pier for Miami’s BalconyTV as well as videos for “Pour Me Another One” and “Good Times & Tan Lines”. A new video for “Can’t Stop Thinking” was also recently filmed in Key West and is available to view. Thanks to internet radio, his music’s gone crazy both regionally in the U.S. and internationally, charting on The Iceman’s Nashville based syndicated show and snagging airplay on the Blues and Roots radio programs throughout the States, Canada, Australia and Europe. Brunet recorded the album at Shining Star Studios in Stittsville, Ontario with good friends Dan Artuso and Victor Nesrallah who shared co-production with Norm, the two also helped shape the singer’s music on his first album. They contribute musically on several instruments including electric and acoustic guitars, as well as bass, keyboards, steel guitar and backup vocals. “Compared to my previous “Life Goes On” release, he says, “this CD is more organic and much more representative of who I am and have always been, just like jamming at a house party playing songs for everyone. It just felt really natural.” More interested in telling other people’s tales than his own, Brunet was inspired to write the heartfelt title track, “It Don’t Get Better Than This” by a couple with two young children who visited him backstage and told Norm of their challenges of family life with the husband being gone on his trucking routes all the time. Yet they find joy amidst those circumstances through their strong belief in their faith, family and friends. He wrote “Out of the Blue” as encouragement for a female friend lamenting that she can’t find true love – and penned “Can’t Stop Thinking” about men who act like they’re not obsessed with a certain woman when they are. “Good Times and Tan Lines” was inspired by a phrase written on a change room mirror at a spa! Unlike younger songwriters he observed working in publishing house rooms in Nashville who crank out tunes day after day, Brunet’s creative process is grounded in his philosophy that “If I don’t have anything to say, I don’t say it. I don’t force the matter. It has to come from the heart or I won’t write anything”. “The creativity process of this album started when I simply noticed around me how there is an abundance of inspiration! My songs are about real people, real situations and for the most part, tell a story that the listener can relate to.”
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