A Conversation with Amos Lee – HuffPost 2.1.11

Mike Ragogna: Let’s talk about your new album, Mission Bell.

Amos Lee: Can I ask you a quick question? So, I’m not quite sure how solar power works. It stores up the sun’s energy so even if it’s cloudy for a few days, you’re still cool?

MR: That’s right because sunshine doesn’t go away forever, and there are battery reserves that kick in. KRUU currently has the bragging rights of being the first solar-powered radio station in the Midwest, but we don’t really want that distinction. We want every radio station to be solar-powered, you know?

AL: Definitely, if you can do it. If you can power yourself up with natural energy that’s renewable and non-damaging, then heck, you should.

MR: Thanks for the question, Amos. So now let’s really talk about your album. (laughs) It was produced by Joey Burns of Calexico, and it features Lucinda Williams and Willie Nelson.

AL: Yeah, they’re both on it. Sam Beam’s on it, Pieta Brown–who I think lives in Iowa–is on it, and my friend Priscilla Ahn is on it.

MR: Would you go into the story of the song “El Camino”?

AL: I went out to Los Angeles to record Last Days At The Log which was about two years ago. It was the first time I didn’t include any of the fellows on the recordings that I did. It was a feeling of departure for me, and I started thinking about people who have made ventures of faith and sorrow. That’s kind of what it was.

MR: And what went into “Violin” with Sam Beam?

AL: I consider that a January song in Philadelphia for me because that’s kind of what it was. I was with this woman for a long time–for me, it was a long time, for everyone else it probably wasn’t very long. We were together hanging and she had split pretty suddenly. She split in the springtime, so during the summer, I was just trying to keep myself afloat. By the wintertime, reality struck. I’m sure where ya’ll are, wintertime is worse, but our winter last year was real bad. So, I spent a lot of time thinking about this situation, considering where I was at artistically and considering where I was at with my career. It was basically about me walking out on the street and feeling a little disconnected from everything, then regaining that connection as soon as music comes into my life. I mean gravity is gravity, but music is emotional gravity. It brings me right back to where I’m at, it makes me present and makes me at ease with a situation. I find that the darkest points of my life is when music is not involved.

MR: How did your Lucinda Williams collaboration come about?

AL: I think Lucinda’s Car Wheels On A Gravel Road was one of the records I was really drawn to when I was first writing songs. Her work as a writer and a singer has always touched me deeply. When we were thinking about that song, to me, there was always a female voice in there singing the second verse. When Joey and I were talking about who we could get to sing the part, I really heard her voice on it. We reached out to her, and she happened to be in the studio at the time, so we sent it over. I feel like, as a listener, she takes the song into a whole other place. It really changed the track for me from something that I liked, to something that absolutely had to be on the album.

MR: One of my favorite tracks, “Behind Me Now,” smoothly leads into “El Camino Reprise” which, lo and behold, features Willie Nelson. Got any Willie stories?

AL: I’ve listened to Willie Nelson a lot in my life. He is somebody who has always been a huge inspiration to me and anybody who’s ever picked up a guitar. So, I was interested in working with him, especially since I had the connection with Mickey Raphael and Calexico had worked with Willie on something previously. We sent him “El Camino…” and we asked if he wanted to sing it with me, and he took some time out and did it. I think it came out beautifully.

MR: Speaking of Willie Nelson, what was it like playing at Farm Aid 25 this year in Milwaukee?

AL: Farm Aid was amazing. I’ve been interested in the movement–the movement of being local, organic, and being more conscious of where your food comes from–I’ve been sort of interested in it for the last couple of years. It was great timing for me to get in front of people that live that life all day long, like Will Allen who I’m sure you’re familiar with. People who are just working everyday to help people eat better, grow better, and live a life that’s going to be most healthy for the environment.

MR: Let’s go over some of your musical history including how your debut album came together.

AL: Well, I was teaching school as some people know. I started hanging around open mics and considering making a full time thing out of pursuing music as something I wanted to do with my life. So, when I started to do that, I started getting into the scene and started hanging out with musicians, and we had a little kinship together and developed a family vibe. Along the way, I recorded a demo CD in a friend of mine’s bedroom studio. We sent it to some people because there was a fellow that I met at one of those open mics who’s a guy that had been around Philadelphia and who was a really swell cat. He sent it around to a bunch of a people, and there was some interest from some labels within three or four months.

This was about two years after I finished teaching. It took me two years to get all that together. So, there was some interest from some labels, and I ultimately went with Blue Note. I went with them because not only did they have the legacy of the label itself, but they had great success with Norah Jones. I knew their commitment to music and developing a career artist was what their goals were first and foremost. I had a talk with them and I wound up signing with them. Through that process, my demo stuff somehow got to Norah and her people. I think she was just interested in it and came to a couple shows of ours. We started becoming musically drawn to each other. She asked me to do a tour with her in Europe and that went well, and then she asked me to do one with her in the States. So, in between all of that touring, I made a record in July of 2004 that came out in March of 2005, and that’s sort of the beginnings of it.

MR: You have an affinity for icons like Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis.

AL: Yeah, man. I worked at a jazz record store in South Carolina called Papa Jazz. That was the first time I had ever heard of a Blue Note record because nobody in my house was really a jazz fan. Some people grow up and their moms and dads are real hip cats. The people I was around were good down to earth people that liked music but weren’t really into jazz which was cool. So, I got to work there and got to understand what an original pressing Blue Note record meant, what kind of heaviness that stood for. I was going into the Blue Note experience with being star struck by them.

MR: Blue Note is an amazing brand. So, ad campaigns and a lot of TV shows have used your music, Brothers & Sisters for instance.

AL: Yeah, I’ve had stuff on a lot of TV shows and movies. It’s been really cool. I think the most exposure I’ve had is when AT&T used the song “Sweet Pea” for a commercial. They ran that commercial a lot, so it was cool.

MR: Now, this is your fourth studio album, and obviously, you’re going on tour. Where will you be playing?

AL: All over the world.

MR: Including Fairfield, Iowa, of course? (laughs)

AL: I would love to play in Fairfield, Iowa.

MR: Do you see yourself as a growing songwriter?

AL: It depends on the day, when I’m playing the music I feel good about. When I’m thinking about playing the music, I don’t always feel good about it. When it becomes an intellectual pursuit where I’m thinking about where I’m at or where everybody else is at, it just doesn’t feel positive to me. When I’m in the process of making the music, all of that goes away and you start to feel the worth and value of what you do because, ultimately, that’s what it comes down to.

MR: What gets you inspired? Are there specific things that trigger your creativity?

AL: I’ve never really been able to quantify it. It just comes.

MR: Are you an artist that writes from your head and than goes to your instrument or writes on your instrument then records it.

AL: It’s both. Like I said, there are no rules for it, it’s just however it comes. I like to stay wide open to the thoughts and the ideas and be as close to the inspirational place as possible.

MR: What advice do you have for new artists?

AL: The only advice I can give anybody is take your time but don’t give yourself any excuses not to try. There’s no reason to rush things, no reason to throw down an album if you’re not finished with all of the songs. If you feel like what you’re doing means something to you and if you put it down in front of people and it means something to them, then I think it’s worthy for you to spend some time and energy on.

Transcribed by Erika Richards