Former Estevan resident Chris Henderson is in for a few busy days in early March.
The award-winning country music singer will release his third full-length album, The Charm, on Monday. The nine-track recording is his first album since My Turn came out in 2014.
The initial plan was to release a shorter, extended play offering this year, but then he decided to add another song, and he had a lot of songs he had already written to round out the album.
“I’m really happy with the way it turned out,” said Henderson. “We recorded it back in Saskatchewan with my producer Brad Prosko, and I couldn’t be more pleased.”
A song like My Regret, which reached No. 69 on the Canadian country music charts and has been climbing, has a similar sound to his previous albums. But the rest of the record has some different instrumentation that he hasn’t used before, and he was excited to experiment with those instruments.
“We had the actual accordion used by John Mellencamp … for most of his albums back then,” said Henderson.
It creates a sound that he describes as a little more “rootsey,” although Henderson said it’s not a roots album.
“I think that just as you evolve as an artist, and as the older you get, the more you figure out who you are and what you want to sound like, and just as I went through all the songs that I’ve written, there were tonnes of songs that could have been taken with a full-on rock-and-roll approach or a rock-country approach.
“But ultimately when it came down to the songs that I liked the most and the ones that I felt were the direction I wanted to go, we just decided to make the most honest approach we could with the album.”
At the same time, My Regret, which he co-wrote with Troy Kokol, is a personal favourite of Henderson’s from The Charm. Another song, Till It’s Just a Memory, is a song he wrote about his grandmother.
“I’ve played it live in a bunch of settings, and it’s gotten just a fantastic response,” said Henderson.
Now that the album has been released, Henderson is looking forward to touring to promote the songs. He looks forward to travelling to Estevan for the concert.
Henderson used crowdfunding as a means to cover some of the expenses of the album. Other musicians have tried it in the past, and Henderson thought it would be a good idea. It proved to be successful, as it raised more than $2,500.
“In this day and age of music, music is available everywhere for free,” said Henderson. “If you’re asking the people that are thinking of supporting you, whether they’re going to support you beforehand or after the fact, sometimes … they don’t really care.”
He admits that he went into the crowdfunding venture with zero expectations, so he was pleased with the support. But he was also concerned that people would think he was looking for a handout.
Those who donated were given a copy of the album, or a package of CDs and T-shirts.
Creative Saskatchewan provided a grant for 50 per cent of the album’s costs.
The release of The Charm will cap a busy three-day stretch for Henderson. He’ll be part of the national cast for Telemiracle 41 on Saturday and Sunday in Saskatoon.
“I keep joking, whenever I’ve been doing interviews this week, that I was so happy last year that I didn’t mess it up, that they asked me back for a second time,” said Henderson. “Last year I did some hosting, and this year they asked me to join the public relations team, and do some things earlier in the week.”
He has been touring Regina with fellow Saskatchewan musician Jeffrey Straker to hype Telemiracle. The promotional efforts have allowed him to see where money raised at Telemiracle is directed.
“I just love being there,” said Henderson. “It’s great being there for my career in a number of ways, but just going there, and being part of something that awesome for the province, it’s one those fell-good kind of deals.”
