at the Buffalo Blues Invitational
Tues., May 16, 2006
Wild Buffalo,
208 W. Holly, Bellingham
I first heard Brian Lee live with the Blues Orbiters last fall over in Port Townsend, WA at the Biker Blues Blast. I enjoyed their festival set, was really impressed with their 'true to blues' sound and had a good time swapping stories with them offstage. Our musical pathes crossed again later on at a Katrina Benefit on Capital Hill in Seattle. When I got the official word that the Buffalo Blues Invitational was changing from monthly to weekly, and I would be able to schedule more Tuesday dates, I crossed my fingers and contacted Brian to see if he'd be willing to come north to Bellingham and be featured at the blues jam. He said "Yes", and we inked in the Tuesday,May 16th date.
Brian Lee is many things as a blues player. He's a blues harpist, slide guitarist, standard guitarist, singer, frontman, sideman, songwriter and recording artist and probably lots of other musical talents I don't know about yet! What follows is an email interview I did with Brian Lee, to help fill in the blanks and give the Blueslamp readers some background on Lee before his appearance at the Buffalo Blues Invitational in Bellingham May 16th.
LL: We're all looking forward to seeing you at the Wild Buffalo May 16th, how long has it been?
BRIAN LEE: Too Long! The Buffalo is a great club!!! We were last at the Wild Buffalo about three years ago I think, and just got a little detoured for awhile. I'm really looking forward to your jam, and have an extra treat since my daughter and her boyfriend will be in attendence since she lives in town! I'd love to bring the rest of the Blues Orbiters to the Wild Buffalo. We're on a roll. Conrad Ormsby, Dan Taylor, Ron Baker and Roger Smith are wonderful musicians. I'm a fortunate guy to play with such a great band.
LL: Let's begin by talking gear. What are you playing harp through these days on stage?
LEE: I mostly play Hohner Special 20's or Lee Oscar's. Wood harps sound better but I like the smooth edges on the plastic ones. They're all stock, nothing fancy here. I usually gig with a late model Shure Green Bullet, although for special occaisons I've got an Astatic JT30 from the fifties and some ancient brown bullet Shures from the early 40's that have great tone. I usually run through a Victoria copy of a late 50's Fender tweed Bassman with a "hot plate" to drive it hard but still keep the volume appropriate, or, for quieter gigs and practice, a late 50's tweed Fender Delux.
LL: What are your guitar and amp preferences?
LEE: I play through the same amp as my harp unless the venue is bigger and I want to get fancy with my sound. If so, I'll go for the bassman copy on harp and a tweed Fender Pro for guitar. My usual gig rigs are an early 50's Supro Ozark for slide in Open G, a Les Paul for slide in Open D and Dm, and for standard guitar a Tele that has a custom body I built that has a Strat tremolo bridge. I sometimes also play an early 50's Gibson ES-5 arch-top. I've got some others, but that's the mainstays.
LL: So tell me a little bit of your musical history, where you're from, how and when you got into blues playing and such...
LEE: I was born in San Francisco and grew up in the Bay Area till I was out of high school. My Dad's family was from Oregon going way back and I did a slow migration to Eureka, Eugene, Portland, and then Seattle, with a detour to Pennsylvania for some work for a few years.
I started doodling on harp and then guitar in junior high around age 13 and picked up blues about the same time. A friend was also learning guitar and he had some good blues albims from an older brother like Charlie Musselwhite's "Stand Back" and some Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee that we'd play along with. When I was about 14 I heard a slow Elmore tune followed by a Little Walter tune on the radio and was knocked out. That was the moment that kind of set the path for primary musical preferences, although I like lots of different stuff. I met my wife Suzanne way back in high school and she got into blues too.
I played with friends and did coffee shop kind of stuff in Eugene, and then mostly played solo (Brian Lee's solo moniker was "Bottleneck Slim") until about 7 years ago. I was focused on working, raising my kids with Suzanne, (but) listening all the time and playing pretty regularly. As the kids got older and I had more time, I started hitting some jams and met up with Roger Smith about 7 years ago. We're the original nucleus of the Blues Orbiters, and we started playing around Seattle over 6 years ago.
In a nut shell, I've been playing blues for about the last 37 years, most of which was acoustic or light electric. I got the band thing going as a late bloomer in the last 7 years. Suzanne's been a big supporter as I figured it out as my direction.
LL: Who would you list as your strong musical or songwriting influences?
LEE: Some heavies for me are: T-Bone Walker, Ry Cooder, Miles Davis, Little Walter, Big Walter,
Elmore James, Alan Wilson, Charlie Christian, the Kings, Skip James, robert Johnson, Peter Green, los Lobos, Kenny Burrell. There's plenty more I'm missing...
LL: There's some good variety in your list of heavies! Is there a favorite blues gig that stands out in your memory?
LEE: My favorite gigs have been when everyone in the band is really on, the audience is into it and the music takes over. Happens in the most unlikely circumstances sometimes.
LL: Usually you're out performing with the Blues Orbiters, but how do you feel about blues jams? Likes or dislikes?
LEE: Jams are great. I got going in our band through meeting folks at a jam. I really like to play with other people that I don't regularly get to play with. Different tunes, styles, and it's nice to just get to know more great people in the community. It's cool when everyone has a supportive approach, we can get a good groove going, and have a good time. I suppose a dislike is folks that are rude or who trample on other players.
LL: So, when you're not onstage with the Blues Orbiters...
LEE: I also do our artwork and recording. Jack of all trades, master of none!
LL: What's on the horizon?
LEE: We're starting on our next CD this weekend. We were nominated for best CD by the Washington Blues Society (with no ballot stuffing) on our last one. We didn't win, but it was nice to recieve the recognition!
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I wish I had thought up some really catchy and clever closing question for Brian Lee, but, alas, I did not. He'll be participating in the Buffalo Blues Invitational Tuesday, May 16th at the Wild Buffalo in Bellingham. Think up your own witty question and stop in to ask him yourself! It should be a fun night at the blues jam!
(photo taken at Bumbershoot)
www.bluesorbiters.com
