“Pour your heart out into a glass and mix it with beer kind of country”
Howie Hooper
After a 25 year hiatus from music, Ottawa musician Howie Hooper dove headlong into songwriting, finally releasing his first full length recording, appropriately entitled " The Art of Procrastination", produced by Keith Glass. With the distinctive low rumblings of a seasoned voice, Howie delivers bold, insightful emotionally charged stories straight to your heart. Often compared to the late Don Williams vocally, he has the ability to tell a story with the wry sense of humour associated with Billy Joe Shaver.
January 27th, 2018 was the official release of The Art of Procrastination. To keep things interesting, Howie held his sold out cd launch in a non-traditional setting, a brewery. This was the first cd launch at the Vimy Brewing Company, and possibly the first ever of its kind in Ottawa. Keith Glass opened the evening and then joined Howie to perform stripped down acoustic renditions for an appreciative standing room only audience.
Howie began his musical career at fourteen years of age as a sideman bassist in a number of local bands, and continued until playing full time collided with working full time. In the interim years that followed, Howie raised a family and founded a business in Ottawa. Then he heard Jeff Bates' ballad, One Second Chance, on the radio. This song, not a typical radio cut, proved to be the perfect catalyst to return Howie to the pursuit of music, in short, the drive to become a songwriter.
Today he is fully immersed in the craft; writing and performing, and is active in the Ottawa music community. He is currently heading up Ottawa's Writer's Bloc, a learning forum for established songwriters and for those who would like to be - a group that has been operating for three decades. He also hosts a songwriter series that promotes local writers through performances in the round in an intimate setting - a listening environment where the lyrics are king.
Selections include the timeless truths of Striking Matches, the sorrow filled Tear-Stained Shadows, the tender Untangled Sheets, and the every-mans' song, Procrastination.
Testimonials
"I first saw Howie Hooper perform several years ago and since then I have seen him perform many times, as a solo artist, as a duo and as a trio. He is primarily rooted in the time-honoured country singer lane of story telling, but tackles other genres as well. He is a very prolific songwriter and the subjects vary considerably, from down and dirty blues, to thoughtful life lessons and to humour.
As the producer of Ottawa Grassroots Festival. I get to see a lot of performers and over the last seven years I have booked hundreds of artists. Howie is someone I never tire of seeing, so I try to attend his shows whenever he is performing near Ottawa. He has performed twice at Grassroots and I plan to ask him to perform again in the near future. I have often observed the audience at his shows and he is a performer that has the audience hanging on every word.
In my opinion Howie is the kind of performer I always try to book: - he is a real entertainer, He is more than that, though. He is dependable and always come through, he is down-to-earth, friendly and always helpful.
Don't miss him - this guy is the real deal."
Robert Nesbitt
Founder/ Pesident/ Artistic Director, Ottawa Grassroots Festival
http://ottawagrassrootsfestival.com
"He can make you laugh, he can make you cry, he can make you think. Howie Hooper is passionate about creating and communicating songs about the human condition that resonate and reverberate with audiences. His skilled, honest, heartfelt performances create a lasting positive impression. "
Chris White
chris@folkzone.ca
Founding Artistic Director, Ottawa Folk Festival
Producer and Host, "Canadian Spaces" on CKCU FM
Partner, Folkzone