Willie Norwood, Sr.

CH: How would you characterize the sound and spirit of your new album – “Bout It?

WN: Well, you got a little old school in there you know because that’s where I came from; there’s no pretence about it. The album and what it’s about; you know it’s about the things that I believe in. I believe in family, in community and in God. And those are things that go together to make up the contemporary gospel genre that maybe some people might put me in. Their songs that come from me; I always wanted to sing with Stevie Wonder. I got a chance to cover one of his songs, Have a Talk with God, and then I put my own flavour to it. So you have a kind of old school guide that’s got that church feel in my music. I can sing any kind of music; I studied music and have a music degree. I can sing in different languages and things like that. But I’m not far away you know, I ‘m not one of those classical stiff guys. I don't just sing; I ‘sang’. That’s the way I do it when I sing. It comes from the heart and it comes from a very good cultural leg, a very good ethnic leg. So I’m in the genre of those guys like Al Green, all those guys because I sing soul. I’m a soulful singer.

CH: When I first heard the album it did strike me to have that kinda Al Greene feel to it. How has your family responded to your album and to your new zeal for ministry as an artist, from the children to the wife?

WN: We are a very supportive family and so they support me just like I support them. It’s good for me to hear Brandy or Ray J say to me, "Dad, that was good music." You know a lot of children feel their parents know everything and they don’t need encouraging. But that helps me when they tell me I did good. I’m looking for feedback when I do my songs and I wanna hear that I did well. I represent all that they are and when they sing they represent all that I am. My wife is the one that holds everything together. She’s the final word on whether we can do business because she’s the businesswoman. It works because we all encourage one another and do our best and that makes the family unit stronger.