E-mail a friendAmos Lee
airdate June 19, 2008
With a style that blends folk, soul and jazz, singer, songwriter and guitarist Amos Lee has been hailed as an artist to watch in Rolling Stone. His latest project, "Last Days at the Lodge," follows two critically acclaimed CDs—including a self-produced debut disc—which, combined, sold over a half million copies worldwide. After graduating from college, the Philadelphia native taught elementary school until deciding to pursue a music career. Lee honed his skills touring with such heavyweights as Bob Dylan and Norah Jones.
Singer-songwriter tells Tavis about how he came to be a musician at the late age of 18. (2:40)
Full Interview (9:18)
Amos Lee
Tavis: Amos Lee is a talented singer-songwriter whose combination of soul, folk and jazz have earned him critical acclaim with the release of his first two CDs next week. You can pick up a copy of his third disc, "Last Days at the Lodge." From the new project, here is Amos Lee performing the single "Truth."
[Clip]
Tavis: All right, Amos, that smash hit single, "Truth," is about what? (Laughter)
Amos Lee: Jealousy, and the depths that it takes you to. For sure.
Tavis: "Truth" is a funny name for a song about jealousy.
Lee: Yeah. Well, I think some of the truest moments for me have been times when I experience those real ugly sides myself, because you have to reckon with yourself a lot of times if you really want to improve as a human being, you know? So.
Tavis: Right. And that connects to being jealous in what way?
Lee: Well, you can be jealous in a lot of ways. That one in particular was over a woman. There was an ugly part of me that was -
Tavis: She was jealous of you, or you were jealous of her?
Lee: I think both. (Laughter) Yeah, I think they tend to each other pretty well.
Tavis: Yeah. Why for you - every songwriter has his or her own process that they go through. Why, for you, so honest about a variety of subject matter, but particularly that subject matter, you and a woman?
Lee: Well, the relationship that I had with a woman a lot of these songs were about was - it was a real time of learning for me. So the only way I can really understand a lot of that stuff is by writing songs about it. Because when I think about it on my own, I generally don't have as much clarity. But once I can get behind a melody, I can sort of make sense of things.
Tavis: James Taylor, one of my favorite artists, was in this chair some time ago, and I think Taylor may have been the first person - JT, the first person who I ever heard say this, at least to me. And that is that he over the years has written all kinds of songs - thousands of songs over the years. But he said to me on this show that sometimes he doesn't really understand what he was saying, what he was going through, what he was writing.
He had to get it out, but he didn't really get it until, like, years later, on stage, performing somewhere, and it hit him, took him back to what he was writing some 10, 15 years earlier. You ever had that experience?
Lee: Yeah, all the time. You re-learn about stuff, too, like for instance, "Truth." Like, I didn't set out to write that song. I wasn't thinking about, "Oh, man, I'm jealous today; I got to write my jealousy song." (Laughter) I was in Salt Lake City and just having a day, and it came out.
So when you revisit things like "Keep It Loose, Keep It Tight" is a song on my first record, and I always revisit that song and try to figure out, like, why I wrote it or how it came out, because a lot of that stuff is a mystery, man, when it comes out. Who knows where it comes from? People ask you, "Well, how do you write a song?" It's like, I don't know. I have no idea how to tell you that.
Tavis: I don't know how you write songs; obviously you don't either, according to your statement now. (Laughter) Although you got a record and I don't, so. You must have figured out something that I have no figured out as yet. That said, I suspect you do know, though, you do know the answer to this question: how you got started. Who gave you your first guitar?
Lee: My stepfather gave me my first guitar. Yeah, I was just sitting around. I was a basketball player for the first 18 years of my life.
Tavis: Do you still play?
Lee: Yeah, I try to. If I could play every day, I think I'd be a well-adjusted human being. Yeah, I was talking to this friend of mine about if New Zealand had a basketball team and I could go down there and play for the New Zealand national team, I would give all this up. (Laughter) Yeah, man, I'd be done.
Tavis: But until such time, you're going to keep playing your guitar.
Lee: Until I get an email from the New Zealand national basketball team. But yeah, I just got a guitar, man, after I stopped playing ball, and I'd never really been introduced to the power of, like, the vibration of music being real close to me before.
Because I'd listen to records all the time. Like I bought - my fondest memory of childhood music, other than "Copacabana" and "Disco Duck" (laughter) was "Here and Now" by Luther Vandross. I bought the cassette single of that when it first came out, and also "Superwoman" by Karen White.
And I would just listen to those two songs over and over again. It's a bizarre thing to do when you're, like, six years old or eight years old or whatever.
Tavis: You have any idea why? They're great songs, and Luther is certainly a great artist. Any idea why those two songs?
Lee: I think it's the story - "Superwoman," I think it was the storytelling aspect of it. You get such a glimpse into the character of her, and, like, just her day-to-day life in a simple, like, just the simple trials that she's going through in that song, and she sings it so great.
Tavis: That was like the Black woman's national anthem for, like, two years.
Lee: It's a great song, man. I remember that I actually bought the 45 of. But the Luther song, I don't know, it was just something emotional about that song that just nailed me every time, and I just had to have it over and over again. But anybody like Luther can tell you anything, basically. His version of "A House is Not a Home" is maybe, like -
Tavis: Luther can sing the phone book.
Lee: He could, he could.
Tavis: And make it sound good. (Laughter) So you don't actually start playing guitar until you're, like, 18?
Lee: Yeah.
Tavis: That's fascinating, that you end up being an artist, as good as you are, when you started late for some artists. Eighteen is late.
Lee: Yeah, well, you think about it, I think a lot of people have that sort of story. Not a lot, maybe, but - like Bill Withers, for instance, who's one of my favorites. He didn't really start till later, too. He'd been writing songs before, but he didn't really start as a recording artist till much later.
And I think there's a good thing about starting late, because you have a bit more of an understanding of things, like, as far as how you want to put your stuff out there, as opposed to if you're 18 or 19, get caught up in a lifestyle, and by the time you're 25, you're done.
Tavis: How did you discover, after not playing until you're 18, and obviously - I shouldn't say obviously - I assumed you weren't altogether proficient the minute you picked it up, so it took you a while to get good at this, and then you start learning how to write songs, etc., etc. In that process, one of the things that you did, as I recall, was teach school?
Lee: Yeah.
Tavis: So how did you find your way to what your true gift and talent is with these other various jobs and careers along the way, specifically being in the classroom with kids?
Lee: Right. When I was teaching, I wasn't playing at all. I had kind of just given up on music at that point, because the real - when I went to school, I felt like it was such a gift for me, because so much of my family has spent working their whole lives, so I felt like going to college, getting the opportunity to do something outside of, like, the work force or whatever, I was, like, I really wanted to give back to the world, because I felt like I'd been given so much.
So I wanted to teach, because there's really no more constructive way, other than maybe being a doctor or something like that, to really effect change like that every day. So I wanted to be a school teacher, so I tried to do it, man, and I just - I struggled. Like every teacher does, but I felt this yearning to play music and to try to do something else, and it's just been a thrill and an odd journey that I didn't think I'd be on.
Tavis: Tell me how you think this project, "Last Days at the Lodge," fits into the music scene today. I was just reading - I guess a couple days ago, reading, I guess it's "Fortune" magazine did the list of the top-earning entertainers last year, and if my memory serves me correctly, Jay-Z made $82 million last year.
Lee: Wow.
Tavis: And not to be outdone, Beyoncé made $80 million last year. That's what you call a power couple - 82 and 80 million dollars last year. But never mind Jay-Z and Beyoncé; the music business, as you know, is still in trouble right about now. How does this fit into the music scene, this record today?
Lee: Well, there's a lot of people making records still, and there's a lot of music that needs to be heard. And I think that from the Internet or blogs or websites and stuff, there's a huge amount of exposure that can happen now for people that are making records.
There's not as much of a big machine as there used to be. Radio is certainly a lot different than it was. All the stations are basically controlled by one corporation, so that makes it pretty difficult for -
Tavis: Yeah, how do you sell this if you're not getting radio airplay 24/seven?
Lee: Yeah, I don't know - I have no idea, man. (Laughter) I hope somebody knows. But you just go out there and play shows every day, man, try to connect with people. For me, every day is the way to sell it. Every person you meet you play the songs for, whether you get paid for it or not. It's still a connection you're making through the music.
It doesn't cost me anything to write a song, so putting it out there for me is sort of an equal sort of understanding.
Tavis: Which means, I suspect, then, that you must be playing dates all the time.
Lee: We try to, yeah. It's really the job. A lot of people can rest back and go I don't want to tour, but it's tough today. If you really want to get your music out there to people, you got to play shows because there ain't - I got fortunate this year that they put my song on a commercial, and that was really kind of a thrill in a way, because you get your family sitting around watching TV and they call you and go "Oh, I heard your song. I had no idea you were a musician." (Laughter) So it's a funny way to connect with people.
Tavis: What's not funny is his talent. He's awfully good at what he does. His name is Amos Lee, of course. His new CD, "Last Days at the Lodge." You might want to add it to your collection. Amos, as always, good to see you.
Lee: Oh, man, it's a pleasure and a joy.
Tavis: Thanks for coming in. Pleasure's mine.
Back to June 19, 2008