Cody C. Norman performs at Dog Tags Taproom Friday, February 26, 2021, in Tyler. (Les Hassell/News-Journal Photo)

Tyler musician Cody C. Norman says the dirty little secret of being a professional drummer is that it’s rarely your own beat you’re marching to. So, after years drumming from coast to coast and around the world with artists such as Smokin’ Joe Kubek and the late Bugs Henderson, Norman laid down his drumsticks and stepped to the front of the stage.

“You have very little input,” explained the 50-year-old career sideman, “so I finally decided I’ve played enough of what other people want me to play and how they want me to play and that it was time for me to do my own thing.”

Norman’s solo performances are filled with familiar ’60s and ’70s classic rock covers from artists such as Bob Seger, Ronnie Milsap and Van Morrison and ’80s favorites from Tom Petty, the Cars and Van Halen. When the crowd seems receptive, a few of his original songs fill in the gaps.

The singer-songwriter describes his original work as melodic rock and blues.

“I don’t listen to a whole lot of new artists and stick to bands from the ’60s and ’70s for inspiration,” he says, “and to simply say R&B is too narrow.”

The East Texas native said his path to a musical career began at 11 years old when he played his older sister’s hand-me-down snare drum in the school band in Rusk. Later, the junior high band had a joint performance with the local symphony orchestra and Norman volunteered to take a seat behind a full drum kit in front of a crowd for the first time in his life.

“We played ‘Eye of the Tiger’ and after the show everyone was coming up to me and complimenting me,” Norman recalled. “I was just hooked. That was the first time anyone ever really recognized me for what I was doing.”

When other teenagers saved up to buy their first car, Norman saved money to buy a drum kit.

“Once again, I have to thank my older sister, Beth, for her support,” he laughed. “Not only did she introduce me to some of my biggest musical influences and all those great ’70s and ’80s bands but she had to drive me everywhere because I didn’t have a car.”

Norman said his biggest musical influence is Jimi Hendrix. The drummer said one of his personal career highlights, while playing with Kubek, was performing at a Jimi Hendrix birthday tribute concert in New York City’s Times Square. He got to meet and play a few songs with the legendary Hendrix’s brother, Leon.

“My hero, Jimi Hendrix, lives with my music,” Norman said. “That is my main cat – I’ll never be able to play like him but there will never be anybody to surpass the influence that he has had on me.”

Most recently Norman headed The Groove Slaves. Formed in 1992 by members of Bugs Henderson’s band as a way to pick up extra gigs when Henderson wasn’t performing, the group of seasoned musicians performed around the Dallas area, eventually becoming the house band at the Greenville Bar & Grill.

With ties to East Texas, the group relocated to the Tyler area around 1998 and had been playing regularly at local venues until the COVID-19 pandemic brought things to a screeching halt.

“It became harder and harder to book gigs for the whole band,” he said. “The crowds are smaller and venue owners don’t want to book a whole band, especially bands that play at volume, so I’ve focused on the solo shows for the last year.”

During the initial lockdown Norman said he had to reach out and travel to some out of the way places to make ends meet for his family.

“A single parent playing music for a living in Tyler, Texas, might be looked at as someone who is clinically insane,” he said, “but I really contribute the fact that I’m still alive to having custody of my two kids.”

Norman also used the time during the lockdown to begin recording his own music. Truly a quarantine effort, Norman wrote, sang and played all instruments on the recordings made in his home studio. He hopes to have it mastered and available to fans within the next six months. 

Norman said it’s easy to miss the camaraderie and the support system of being in a band and, with the recent lifting of restrictions, he hopes to have more performances at venues with the full band. He’s learned, though, to enjoy the independence of being a solo act. He’s been entertaining regularly at The Grove, Dakotas Prime Steak and Chop House and Lago del Pino as well as several area country clubs and other smaller venues.

“Not everybody is built for it,” he said, “but I’m comfortable being alone on the stage and I enjoy the independence and not having to acquiesce to the demands of a band or having to deal with the schedules of the other members.”