Round three of The Henry County Summer Concert Series features Henry Lee Summer

Round three of The Henry County Summer Concert Series features Henry Lee Summer

By: Kevin Vickery 

Brazil, Indiana native, Henry Lee Summer was the headline attraction on Friday, August 16th for the third installment of The Henry County Concert Series at The Arts Park Pavilion.  The evening was warm and the crowd was excited to see this performance from a Hoosier native whose career has spanned over four decades.

Henry Lee Summer who first started touring in the late 70s and early 80s, gained significant popularity in 1987 when he signed a record deal with Epic CBS Associated.  He had a major hit with, “I Wish I Had a Girl” on his self-titled debut album in 1988 which charted as a No. 1 mainstream rock hit and landed at No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.  His “Hey Baby” (No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100) was released in 1989 from his album “I’ve Got Everything”.  He has gone on to record ten albums including his most recent, “Live it Up (And if the Haters won’t let you, Live It Down)” which was released in 2019.

When I was in high school, you couldn’t walk past a radio without hearing one of those early, Henry Lee Summer songs. Indianapolis classic rock station, Q-95 kept him in just as heavy rotation as larger, more nationally known artists.  My friends and I would laugh as we would try to imitate Henry’s voice on the station IDs that he cut for them. They’d always go something like… “FRIENDS, FRIENDS, FRIENDS!… this is your old pal, Henry Lee Summer and you’re listening to THE rock & roll station, Q95!… and then one of his songs would kick in.  My memories of listening to him seem to all be outside, shooting baskets, riding in a car with the windows down, or just generally enjoying Summer time in Indiana.  I guess maybe that’s somewhat of a subconscious bi-product of his name being Summer. Either way, it made total sense that he would be part of the Henry County Summer Concert Series, not only because of his name, but also because of his vibe.

My absolute favorite times of seeing Henry Lee Summer perform in the past are when he played every Sunday night throughout the 90s in downtown Anderson at a club called Elliot’s.  Henry played drums and sang in a supergroup of local musicians that also included the great, local legend, Carl Storie on vocals and harmonica. My friends I and must have gone to see them there at least 30-40 times over that decade and always loved hearing their cool versions of old rock, blues, and R&B standards.

Henry Lee’s show at The Arts Park Pavilion didn’t disappoint as his set featured all his old hits you expect and some cool covers like, Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky”, Bob Dylan’s, “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”, and “All Right Now” by Free.

Henry’s voice is as strong as ever and his band was sharp and tight. He is accompanied on stage by guitarist, Mark Moran, keyboardist, Gary Mielke, drummer, Steve Brunner, and bassist, Jim Sanders. His stage show is particularly enhanced by the backing vocals of The Mitchell Sisters, Zanna Mitchell, Julie Pontious, and Mary Mitchell who’s sister-harmonies and dance moves gave the show an extra special kick, both musically and visually.

I was able to ask Henry a little bit about his newest future recording projects and he told me he has plans to return to the studio soon to record some new material to add to a greatest hits album in the works.

On performing at The Henry County Concert Series, Henry said, “It’s great because it’s a free show and the audience really appreciates not only us, but any of the bands that play there because money’s tight.” Henry added, “At this stage of the game, I’m always appreciative when people come out to see us play.  I’ve got one of the best bands I’ve ever had and our live shows are on the rise”.

The show at the Arts Park Pavilion also featured Dave Ellison who after a 10 year stint as a coffee shop owner in Pendleton is in the process of making a move back to his hometown of New Castle. He was accompanied by drummer, Justin Browning on the Djembe drum for a tasteful acoustic cover set that the crowd enjoyed as they were getting ready for Henry Lee Summer. On his song selections, Dave said, “I like to keep it pretty eclectic.  I don’t stick with just one genre all together and I like to be a little versatile so, who knows where I’m going to bounce around to.” He added, “I’m not an attitude guy. I just like to get along and I like peace, harmony, and coffee.”

Dave was born in Long Beach, CA where his Father was stationed at a naval base. Once his Dad got out of the Navy, they moved to New Castle when Dave was 10 years old. On that part of his life, Dave recalled, “At that time, this Arts Park used to be Jennings Lumber.  I used to come here with my Dad to buy Lumber and things to help him.  To come back here 40-50 years later and see and perform in this beautiful facility – that’s very inspiring.  I couldn’t be happier.”

The Henry County Concert Series continues featuring Cornfield Mafia with Jasper Wright & John Thompson on September 20th. All shows are at the Arts Park Pavilion with a 6:30 PM show time.

As I’ve said before, it takes a great deal of work and planning to bring a series of events like this to fruition and part of what makes that possible are the corporate sponsors.  The Henry County Concert Series thanks Modern Fold, Henry County Community Foundation, Edward Jones, New Castle – Henry County Chamber of Commerce, and Art Association of Henry County for their support.

For more information about Henry Lee Summer find him on social media or his official website at henryleesummer.com

To keep up with Dave Ellison visit his Facebook page.

To find out about events at The Henry County Arts Park Pavilion visit the Art Association of Henry County’s website at henrycountyarts.org