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AJ Lee Releases New EP |
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For those of you who are reading this and thinking that Bluegrass music
is a forgotten genre, I challenge you to spend one-half hour talking to
nineteen year old Bluegrass singer, songwriter and musician AJ Lee,
because by the time the conversation is over, she will have you ready to
try your luck at Bluegrass and she may even have convinced you to try
and recruit others. Lee has already been the recipient of numerous music
awards in California and if her new self-titled EP, featuring a
collection of six songs is any indication; her future looks to be
shining pretty brightly.
Lee’s vocals on the opening track Gillian Welch’s “Miss Ohio,” are
reminiscent of Alison Krauss when she was the same age. The electric
guitar solos are excellent and unfortunately we do not have a breakdown
of album credits by individual song, so we cannot tell you if it is Jon
Abrams or Paul Lacques on his Telecaster. Throughout the album AJ Lee
accompanies herself on her 1954 accoutic Martin guitar and at times on
her mandolin. This may surprise some readers, but we prefer Lee’s vocals
over Welch’s when it comes to the song “Miss Ohio,” because we with
think AJ Lee’s vocals are more subtle and prettier, whereas Welch’s have
more of a bite to them. We suppose the argument could be made that the
lyrics lend themselves to Welch’s more sardonic take, but we still
prefer Lee’s interpretation of a young woman cruising with her “rag-top
down,” and who is resisting her mother’s persistent efforts to get her
married off.
The rest of the musicians who appear on this EP are from the Shady
Mountain Band, Dave Zirbel is on pedal steel, Marc Doten plays Hammond
organ and the drummer is Anthony Lacques.
Lee says, “(The song) “Miss Ohio,” made people feel good when they
listened to the song (at her shows). There is something about the melody
and the words. Certain songs portray certain emotions or make people
feel happy and they want to listen to them more often.”
The song “Hickory Wind,” was selected for this EP, because when AJ Lee
performed it live she received a good reception from her audiences.
“There are other songs like “Just One Look,” that we were experimenting
with different sounds. We just wanted to see how they did,” she says.
Although, serves up a tender and subtle rendition of “Just One Look,”
she lacks the conviction of someone who is absolutely smitten when she
serves up the lyrics, “I will get you some day,” and “I’m going to keep
on scheming until I can make you my own.” When you are singing a love
song your job as a singer is to convince the listener that you really
are in love or to evoke some strong emotional response from the
listener, so they say, yes I remember when I felt that way too.
Although AJ Lee has a good voice and the instrumentals on her
self-titled album are excellent, she needs to find that ability to
inhabit her songs, to not only be the voice singing the songs, but to
become the songwriter's voice. That should come naturally enough when
she writes her own tunes, but when you are covering a song written by
someone else you have to find a way to "be in the moment," to both draw
your audience in and to distinguish yourself from others in your genre
and music in general. Rhonda Vincent did it, Ricky Skaggs found a way
and so did Alison Krauss, all of whom made Bluegrass music their home
and in the case of Alison Krauss she has become a success as a mega
crossover artist. AJ Lee has the talent, now let's see if she has the
desire to take her craft to the next level.
AJ Lee literally grew up in the California Bluegrass Association’s Kids
On Bluegrass program, which as she says, “…encourages youg musicians to
play with other people their own age and to get more experience
communicating with adults, with communicating with each other and
creating bands together, (as well as) being band leaders. It focuses on
growing young people as people and as musicians.
All of the CBA members believe that music is an essential part of
growing up and having a sense of community. Overall, we believe that
music is very healthy to have in a person’s life.”
AJ Lee is also actively involved with Handsome Ladies a group that is
focused on getting more women involved in Bluegrass music and also
ensuring that they play a more prominent role in Bluegrass music.
She says, “It is a change, because traditionally Bluegrass was focused
mostly on white males. I have noticed lately that there have been more
women’s groups and there has been more support for women to play
Bluegrass and more (opportunity) to be noticed.”
AJ Lee started performing as a child and now she is a young woman, so we
asked her what advice would she like to share with teenage girls
starting out in music today and secondly what advice would she share
with their parents.
“I would like to tell teenage girls starting out if you get involved
with Bluegrass and come to some jams and come to some festivals there is
no way that you will be made fun of for skill level or for how you look
or anything like that. You will immediately be accepted. There are
plenty of people who will reach out and bring you to jams and say hey
play on this song or will encourage you in any way possible.
I would tell any teen’s parents that it would be the best thing that
they could offer their child the experience of trying something new and
to have their son or daughter be involved in what I believe is something
that shaped my life and made me the person that I am today,” she says.
Please visit the
AJ Lee website here.
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