Catching Up With... Amos Lee

Amos Lee's soul-infused croon and tasteful guitar work have haveearned the road warrior the ringing endorsement of Paste editors and the chance to open for luminaries like Bob Dylan and Merle Haggard. Lee's third full-length album, Last Days at the Lodge (set to be released June 24 on Blue Note), continues the Philadelphia-based musician's tradition of stick-in-your-head, bluesy riffs and introspective (but never glum) meditations on subjects ranging from infidelity ("Truth") to born-again ex-cons ("Street Corner Preacher") to good, ol'-fashioned lust ("Baby I Want You"). Paste recently spoke to Lee about who makes his iTunes "Most Played" list, his work ethic at the titular Lodge, the rock 'n' roll session veterans who play on the new album, and his pal Oliver Wood's favorite down-home Atlanta blues joint.

Paste: Could you tell me a little bit about the making of Last Days At The Lodge?
Lee: Well, I got done doing this tour with Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello on October 30 and then the next day I flew out to Los Angeles because I felt like I was ready to make another album. We went out there to L.A. and got in touch with some people and I got a call back from Don Was—he had told me he was interested in seeing what I had going on. I went over to his house and played some songs for him and we talked about those songs and kinda just decided we would like to make a record together. He had an engineer and a studio that he liked and we chose some musicians and they all happened to be available the week that we wanted to record. We just went in there family-style and did it, that's pretty much step-by-step how it went.

Paste: You recorded the whole album in a week?
Lee: Well, we did all the basic tracking in a week and then we went in and did overdubs and mixing and that took probably about three weeks, so it took about a month between the cutting, the live tracking—which was like a week long—and the mixing and mastering and the overdubs and everything.

Paste: That seems super-fast...
Lee: Yeah, well, y'know, with the guys that I picked to play with, first of all, they weren't all that available timewise anyway, because they're a pretty busy bunch of people. Plus, I like to record quickly—I like to do live vocals and I like for the stuff not to be overwrought, necessarily. So we just kinda went in and played the songs a couple times over, went in with it like that, fixed it up a little bit and voila!

Paste: What was it like playing with musicians like Doyle Bramhall [Jr.] and Spooner Oldham?
Lee: Oh, it was great. Spooner's an interesting musician because... the first time I really heard him play live was at Willie Nelson's birthday party, he was playing with the Drive-By Truckers and my drummer and I were standing there kinda listening to him and just hearing what he was doing was really interesting. Because he picks these parts to play that, unto themselves, they might not seem like the thing that most people would think of but they work so well within what's happening. Spooner's such a listener and Doyle's the same way and James [Gadson] and Pino [Palladino] were the same way—they all not only listen to what I'm doing but they listen to what each other's doing, they're trying to further the whole thing musically, moreso than their particular part.

Paste: Did you take any sort of life lessons from working with them?
Lee: Yeah, well, Spooner's like, just being around him for me, and actually, all of them, everybody in that room, it was like, I can learn from them, and Don Was, too. The way they approach music, y'know, Spooner just sits there listening until he hears something, that's his thing. A lot of people have heard that old story about him—they caught him falling asleep on the stool and someone said, 'Spooner, are you there?' and he's like, 'Yeah,' they go, 'What are you doing?' and he goes, 'Well, I haven't heard anything yet!' He just waits until he hears stuff and then he plays it. I really dig that.

Paste: So, you've played with quite a few legendary musicians over the years. Who would be your next dream collaborator?
Lee: I'd like to work with Bill Withers, I'd like to do that, he's one of my big inspirations and I haven't really had a chance to work with him. I'd like to work with a lot of people, you know what I mean? There's so many people I really want to work with. I'd like to do some stuff with the Holmes Brothers, maybe, or, I mean everybody... put me in a room with anybody, I'm into it. D'Angelo, Iris Dement, John Prine, I'm just into it. So many people. But the first name that would come up would probably be Bill.

Paste: Have you ever talked to him?
Lee: Yeah, I got a chance to meet Bill actually, in Los Angeles. We hung out and had lunch together one day, it was great.

Paste: So you went to school down here in the south, right, at South Carolina?
Lee: And you're calling from Atlanta, right? 404, I've got some friends that live down there. Do you know Oliver Wood? He's in the band called the Wood Brothers, he lives in Atlanta, he's really good.

Paste: I don't know him, but I know the Wood Brothers.
Lee: Yeah, Oliver lives in Atlanta and he took me to this little blues bar down there that he goes to all the time, it's this kinda ramshackle little place that, they have music there a lot, like, real small, I can't remember what part, it's not in Little Five Points or anything, it's kinda a little bit more off the beaten path.

Paste: Is it also a barbecue place?
Lee: Yeah, it's also a barbecue place.

Paste: Is it Maddy's?
Lee: Yeah, I think that's it! ...that place is amazing.

Paste: It's great, and they'll pack 'em in there, too.
Lee: Yeah, I think he plays there a lot, anyway, sorry, I'm not trying to digress, but 404 leads to other things.

Paste: So, since you've been touring so much, do you have, like, a network in every city?
Lee: Not really. I have a couple friends here and there, but, y'know, the tours that we've done, aside from the Dylan and Merle Haggard tour, where we had a lot of cities where we stayed for many days, we usually get in and out pretty fast, because we got a lot of shows lined up, y'know? So, yeah, I wish I did have more a network set up. I think if you're doing it for maybe 20 years or something like that, I think that's when you start to really get comfortable with a lot of people.

Paste: How do you feel about playing festivals as opposed to solo shows? Do you notice a big difference?
Lee: One thing about a festival, there's a lot of really great stage managers involved in festivals, but oftentimes it's a difficult, rushed scene 'cause there's so many acts coming on and off and so many different inputs for the sound people to deal with and everything. So it's a little bit more rushed, which sometimes can make it great, 'cause you just fly in and fly out. But also the crowds are usually bigger and sometimes not as aware of your music—but that can work in your favor, too, because a lot of people get to hear you at once, y'know? So, I like 'em and I've had a lot of great experiences with festivals ... also, you get to listen to crazy-great music all day, too. We usually play early 'cause nobody knows who we are at a lot of festivals, so we usually get to hang out all day, and you get around a lot of music that you normally wouldn't hear other places, which is really cool.

Paste: So you're getting ready for your tour... are you excited, you ready to get back on the road?
Lee: There's a lot of work to be done, but I'm definitely looking forward to playing, for sure.

Paste: Do you think you're going to do another round of being out on the road for an extended period of time?
Lee: I mean, if that's what it calls for, yeah. I mean, I'm open to playing as much as possible right now. It's kind of what a lot of people would like to do, so, I mean, I'm into it, I really enjoy playing the music and letting the people hear the music in its most natural form, so that's cool.

Paste: Are any of the fellas from the record going to be playing with you on the road?
Lee: I don't think so. They're all pretty big-name people, and I know that Doyle and Pino are out with Eric Clapton right now, and I think James is pretty busy in Los Angeles and Spooner plays with the Drive By-Truckers, so I don't think they're really available. I would love to, but I don't think they're available.

Paste: Have you ever played in a band with a permanent lineup or have you always kinda been more of a solo artist?
Lee: I mean, I love playing with people, so, all the time, I'm always interested... I got a chance to play with Paul Simon's band recently and that was a real thrill and I've had a band that I've played with in Philly for a long time, a bunch of friends of mine, but I like exploring music with different people and figuring out how different people react to it, y'know?

Paste: So what are some of your current favorite records? What are you listening to these days?
Lee: I've been listening a lot to the Magic Numbers, lately, I really like them a lot, that's one band I got to see when I was doing a festival, and I was really taken by the songwriting and their harmonies and their arrangements and everything. So I've been listening to Those the Brokes, that record, a lot, I've been listening to, let's see... let me open up my computer and see what's happenin'. I'll give you a real honest answer. [Laughs] I've been watching a lot of TV from iTunes. You can buy Arrested Development on there—you know that show Arrested Development? It's one of the funniest shows. I bought all three seasons, I've just been devouring it. I sit up late at night, I'm like, 'Just one more!'

Paste: I know, it's horrible, I wasted like three hours the other day watching it!
Lee: I'm tellin' ya! You know, Entourage, too, which is kinda odd because I never really was into the show but lately I've been watching it. Oh, this Al Anderson record I've been listening to a lot, too. I think it's just called Al Anderson, it's his first solo record he did, it's a cool album, it's really good. Let's see, what else, I'm just gonna peek through and see, I'm not gonna bullshit ya, I'm gonna really tell you. I'm looking at all the music I got on here, because there's another record I've been listening to a lot lately, I'm just trying to remember what it was. Oh, The Isley Brothers' 3 + 3, I've been listening to that a lot, too. I don't have a lot of stuff on this computer, but I have a lot of stuff... y'know, people's actual CDs I listen to, oddly enough, still, and if I had a record player I'd listen to that, too, but I left it at a friend's house, so, gotta get that back. So yeah, that's what I've been listening to, those records.

Paste: So, while you have your iTunes open, what are your most played songs?
Lee: Let's see here, how do you do that?

Paste: There's a little... those options at the top...
Lee: Yeah, most played, let's see. I'm sorry, I'm not all that adept with it, I'm trying. "Be My Woman Tonight," by Al Anderson, a song I really like a lot. And there's a lot of stuff I don't have names for, this is the problem. Because I get my friends' records, I buy my friends' records at these shows and I just put 'em in my computer. I listen to a lot of local music, a lot of my friends from Philadelphia, so I'll buy their albums and a lot of times iTunes doesn't know what those are so it doesn't put it in there. This song called "Only Love" by John Prine that's on Aimless Love, that's a really great one. This song called "Pass Me Over," by Anthony Hamilton, um, a song called "Loving You" by Al Green and "I Can't Write Left Handed" by Bill Withers and "Compared to What" by Roberta Flack. Those are at the top of the list.

Paste: Wow, thanks for doing that ... I think that's something a lot of people are always curious about.
Lee: Yeah, what people are listening to, right?

Paste: Yeah. I don't know about you, but when you're a teenager and you're just starting to figure out how to get into music that's not mainstream music or stuff you hear on the radio, you read an interview with somebody you really like and they talk about some band, and you're like, "Maybe I should pick that up."
Lee: Totally.

Paste: So, speaking of that, you've risen to fame through channels other than radio—how do you feel about that? Do you feel like it's even possible for someone like you, who is kind of a more traditional songsmith, to get famous, to even get on the radio these days? Is that a part of your goal?
Lee: I mean, radio is—I don't really know what's happened. I think it's good. There's a lot of good things that's happening, there's a lot more outlets for people to get their music out right now, there's better ways, so I think that it just depends on if you catch some sort of wave, y'know? I don't really know how to answer that question, really, because I think that the world of music, especially the outlets of music, has changed so much. What radio really means now is different because it's not like the days of old, where it's like, oh, if you have a hit on the radio—although that can still happen—but in the singer-songwriter world, I mean, you can still do it, like there have been some people who are just kinda songwriters who have had some big hits on the radio. Yeah, I think it's possible to do it. I don't necessarily think that's the goal for sure, I mean, I wouldn't put that as my goal, but I'm happy to have the music get out there as long as its, y'know, ah, what do they say... the tail doesn't wag the dog, right?

Paste: That's true! So, what's your favorite thing about being on the road?
Lee: There's a lot of things I like about it. Travellin' is cool, getting to see different parts of this country and different parts of the world is pretty deep, playing the music every night, and gettin' into the music and watching it change right before your eyes and everything, that's cool, too. Connecting with people is fun, hanging out with people, y'know, I mean I like a lot of it, there are parts about it I don't like as much, like the uncertainty of where you're gonna go to sleep every night and things like that, that can be a drag, but it's what I do, so I've kind of just accepted the whole picture.

Paste: Is there anything else that you think people should know about Last Days at the Lodge?
Lee: I'm happy that I got a chance to make the record and it was a great experience to work with those musicians and the engineer and the producer that I worked with and everybody that I was involved with making this record, it was cool. It was a struggle at times, but it was a real enjoyable experience.

Paste: Oh, it was a struggle, what made it difficult?
Lee: Well, you know, when you're being creative, it's just a struggle, y'know. You want to make sure that you're representing the songs as well as you possibly can, so you're always thinking. It's a balance, like Don and I balanced each other out pretty well because I can get to be kinda negative in the studio at times and he was just like, "Yeah man, it's cool, don't worry about it, it's all right" kinda thing, because that's the way it goes. I think it's important in life to have people around you that you help to balance out and that help to balance you out, you know.

Paste: Yes, definitely. Actually, I do have another question. So, where did you end up writing most of these songs?
Lee: Well, some of them had been written before the recording process, like a couple of them were from a long time ago, but a couple of the songs were written at the hotel, at the Sportsmen's Lodge [hotel in L.A.]. I was out there by myself for a couple months, just waiting to start the record, and just sat around a lot writing songs. I mean I wrote a lot of songs at the hotel, I wrote like probably 25 or so. I try to pick the guitar up every day and at least get an idea for a song or work out a verse or refine a chorus or something, almost every day.

Paste: Cool. Well, the album's great, we got it in a couple weeks ago and I believe this interview's going to be going up as an accompaniment to the review in our July issue.
Lee: OK, I'll have to let my pops know. My pops goes into the bookstore to get magazines whenever there's new records. Sometimes he tells me and sometimes he doesn't.

Paste: Does he collect your press?
Lee: I don't know if he does or not; I don't think he's a scrapbook kinda dude, but he definitely goes in and reads them, checks them out.

Paste: Was he a musician, too?
Lee: Yeah, he actually was, he was a saxophone player. He's a real deep guy, he gets into music pretty heavily. I actually bought him a saxophone for his birthday a couple years back, and I'm trying to get him so that he can come on stage with us sometime.