Amos Lee Creates Own Definition of Success

04/01/2005 5:48 PM, AP


In an era when radio insists on rigid formatting — as though people who like U2 could not possibly also like the Roots — Amos Lee fits into no known category.

Soul folk? Folk soul? Singer-songwriters with acoustic guitars who sound kind of like John Prine), a smoother Ted Hawkins) and ultimately like no one but themselves?

"Who knows?" says Lee, a 27-year-old former Philadelphia elementary school teacher whose debut album on Blue Note Records is drawing comparisons to Hawkins, Prine and even Ray Charles. "I just try to write the tunes that honestly express what I'm feeling."

The self-titled record draws on some old-school soullikef Donny Hathaway and Bill Withers, and mixes in some folk a la Prine. The album's relatively sparse production puts the focus on Lee's songs — some of which, especially the haunting "Arms of A Woman," sound as though they were written by someone with a lot more mileage than Lee.

Lee laughs at the suggestion that he's an old soul. "Maybe I am," he says. "I've always just been drawn to things that are classic."

He cites Bonnie Raitt) as a favorite artist, saying she has an ageless quality that appeals to him. That also applies to Lee's songs. While some deal with social issues, none is so topical as to risk a short shelf life.

Social concern is what led Lee to teaching. "I feel like still in society today there's a great deal of inequity in the school system. I wanted to be a part of something that was giving back to the community," he says.

But the music bug would not let go. After a year of teaching, Lee began to focus on music. At first, Lee says, he wrote songs in a rush.

"It came very easily. It was like falling in love. Everything was beautiful for about a year," he says. "Now it's like marriage."

Lee began writing songs about the same time he began learning guitar, says Eli Wolf, director of A&R for Blue Note, who brought Lee to the label.

"He's a natural," Wolf said. "He's always striving for an honesty which I think is appealing. Also in his music there's a mix of strength and vulnerability."

Blue Note made its reputation as the home for classic jazz, but it has branched out recently with successful albums from Norah Jones and Al Green. Lee represents another departure for the label, but Wolf says it will remain focused on jazz.

Lee, who was born in 1978, cites 1970-75 as his favorite musical era.

In college at the University of South Carolina, he worked at a record store and beginning listening to old vinyl. He also was learning guitar, and fell naturally into a style heavily influenced by the people he was discovering at the record shop — Withers, Prine, James Taylor).

But when he was growing up in and around Philadelphia, Lee was not running around with "Sweet Baby James" on the headphones.

"I listened mostly to hip-hop, Luther Vandross, contemporary R&B, which I still love," Lee says. "Hip-hop music is a bit of a revelation. Every time I listen to it I think, 'Oh my God, this is so powerful.'"

Lee says he would like to make a hip-hop record one day, then laughs at the thought: "I just don't have the style, man."

Maybe not, but he has enough style to have attracted attention from some big names, even before his first albums release. He's opening for Bob Dylan) and Merle Haggard on tour this spring, and he has opened for Mose Allison, the renowned jazz singer-songwriter and pianist.

"I was very intimidated," Lee says of playing before Allison. "I wanted to rewrite my whole catalogue before I opened for him."

Lee had also attracted a fair bit of buzz from the music press, with praise coming in from publications as different as Paste and People.

And while it might seem unlikely that a gentle, singer-songwriter album will sell millions of copies, Lee has the example of label-mate Norah Jones and her surprise multi-platinum albums to think about.

Still, he says, its not about the number of units sold.

"For, me success is just being able to do something that you love, you feel good about and you enjoy."

"Success isn't a place," he says. "It's a constant thing."

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On the Net:

Amos Lee tour dates: http://amoslee.com/shows.php