THE SOUND OF RIVERFEST: NOT A STAND-UP GUY

Daron Norwood isn't a stand-up guy. His stage show is punctuated by flying microphones and pirouettes.

"I have a very high energy show," the country singer says. "I jump over speakers and do a lot of things."

The popular entertainer will perform Saturday night at Riverfest. Norwood will take the stage at 9 p.m. Riverfest will finish with a bang with the annual fireworks display at 10:30 p.m.

The Riverfest celebration in downtown Cape Girardeau will feature a variety of musical entertainment Friday and Saturday.

The vintage rock group Rare Earth will headline entertainment Friday at 9:30 p.m. Country singer Joy Lynn White will take the stage at 7:15 p.m. Saturday.

The performances will be on the Riverfest main stage at the foot of the Common Pleas Courthouse steps.

At age 29, Norwood is one of country music's rising stars. But he admits he wasn't an overnight success.

"A lot of guys that I know of were singing out of high school," the singer recalled during a telephone interview last week from his Nashville, Tenn., home where he was nursing a sore throat.

Born in Lubbock, Texas, and raised in the small farming town of Tahoka, Norwood has been singing since he was 2.

He grew up singing gospel and later played honky-tonks.

Norwood sang gospel songs with his father and brother. "Then we started singing country music in the schools."

Norwood said he has had to work to find his own style in recent years. "I had been playing honky-tonks since I was 19. Everything I was doing was copy tunes. Now, I had to sing Daron Norwood."

Like many of today's country singers, Norwood's style has more than a little rock 'n' roll in it.

"There is just a lot of rock 'n' roll influence in today's country music," observed Norwood, who describes his music as hillbilly rock.

Norwood, who blends the conviction of gospel with the soul of country, saw his self-titled debut album outsell all other albums at the country music industry's 1994 Fan Fair.

His follow-up album "Ready, Willing and Able" includes the fun "Bad Dog, No Biscuit" and ballads like "Break the Radio" and "Try Getting Over You."

Norwood said his songs are written from the heart. "I try to do it without being too mushy. Everyone doesn't want to hear goody, goody, goody all the time," he pointed out.

"I try to write something that inspires people to feel good and in one way or another to think."

A case in point is his new single, "My Girl Friday," which talks about a divorced father who spends a weekend with his daughter.

Norwood is divorced and has a 7-year-old daughter, Krista. He often can be found hanging out at her elementary school.

"I love kids," he said.

Norwood's Texas roots run deep. He still thinks of himself as a Texan. "I enjoy going home and playing cowboy for a day."

But his true love has always been singing. He hasn't considered another career.

"I always made sure I couldn't do much of something else. This is pretty much it."