Amos Lee
Singer-songwriter Amos Lee embarks on his most extensive tour

By Nicole Roberge

Singer-songwriter Amos Lee came onto the scene in 2005 with his sweeping self-titled debut that blended the sounds of blues with folk and soul. He followed it up with 2006’s Supply and Demand and toured with Norah Jones, Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello. His new album, Last Days at the Lodge, is a soaring blend of heartfelt lyrics, passionate and expressive vocals and intense musicianship that has Lee on a nation-wide tour.

“Some bands can just go and go and go and go, and I did that for about four years,” he says via phone from a Pittsburgh tour stop. “At this point I’m not really as much into that as I used to be. Six or seven weeks on the road, and I’m pretty good. We’re trying to pace ourselves so we put on a good show each night and don’t burn out too early.”

Lee’s a very intense performer and his music has a great deal of passion behind it, something that’s evident on his album and in live performances. He doesn’t just play the song, like some artists, but truly conveys the meaning. To some, that might come hard, but to him, that’s what drives his music.
“It comes naturally to me, but it does take its toll,” he says. “By the end of the show, I kind of feel beat up. I definitely never, ever want to go on stage and go through the motions. That’s when I’ll stop — when it feels like I’m just going through the motions.”
           
Lee is especially excited about his latest album, Last Days at the Lodge. With such musicians as Pino Palladino and Spooner Oldham on the album, he says this was one of the most comfortable and enjoyable albums to make, even though the musicians didn’t rehearse any of the music before going in.

“We didn’t really have any time to rehearse,” he says. “I would have liked to have a week or two to do that, but it worked out fine. I think the best times as a musician are just when you connect with people on the songs. It’s one of the fun things to do, just put the songs in different peoples’ hands and see what they do with it.”
           
Feeling more confident in the studio this time, Lee claims he was able to mix things up a little and experiment with different songs such as “Truth.” He attributes that, however, to the blues, and the fact that it lets you spin things around a little, which is one of the things he loves about being a musician. 
“The blues lets you do a lot of things to it,” he says.
           
But after touring with some of his influences and recording with some amazing artists, there’s one thing Lee would still really like to do — play with an orchestra. “I think that’d be pretty cool,” he says. “Just to hear harmonically what somebody who arranges in that sort of way would do with a couple of my songs. I think that’d be a lot of fun.”
           
As for his favorite experience so far, he says simply, “Being on stage with my band or by myself every night, playing these songs for people. The fact that people really dig what I do and really respond to it is a great feeling for me. I love it.  Every time I get a chance to do that, it’s good. To be able to play more songs for people live. That’s really the goal.”

Tour Dates