Rodney Bowels
MUSIC
the new NORMAL Singer-songwriter and guitarist Rod Abernethy has been a Triangle fixture for decades — and his new album feels right of the moment by DAVID MENCONI
R
od Abernethy’s February album Normal Isn’t Normal Anymore seems like it was pulled straight out of the 2020 news cycle. Songs like Another Year (which opens, Jane walks through the city / all alone) and the title
track (There was a time when anyone was welcome at the door / but normal isn’t normal anymore) resonate perfectly with life on Planet Pandemic. Funny thing about that, though: Abernethy wrote and recorded all 12 of these songs long before COVID-19
brought life to a screeching halt last spring, which makes the album seem prescient or creepy — or both. “I wondered, should I even release this now? And what about that title, that song? It just seemed way too obvious, like people would think I did it during COVID,” The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 27
