(woman) Prairie Musicians is made possible by The Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota and by the members of Prairie Public.

[electric guitar intro] [playing rock in a minor key] [guitar solo] [instruments only; no vocals] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [instruments only; no vocals] [guitar solo] ♪ ♪ [piano & guitar solo] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [guitar solo] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [instruments only; no vocals] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Hi, my name is Conor Lee, and it's really great to be here at Prairie Public today with my band.

Joining me is Max Johnk on bass, Andrew Nelson on keys, and Matthew Tinjum on drums.

I grew up in Fergus Falls, Minnesota.

Like a lot of kids, I was in middle school band and choir.

I played a clarinet for 8 years.

But then at the end of 7th grade, my dad asked me if I wanted to learn the guitar.

That essentially was a life-changing moment for me.

I moved to the Fargo-Moorhead area to attend college at MSUM where I majored in guitar performance and received a jazz study degree.

I was in the FM area for about 10 years, but then in 2021 I moved to Minneapolis.

I started writing my own music actually in middle school.

I was listening to a lot of [chuckles] Weird Al Yankovic and knew that he did a lot of parodies, and I thought that was a really great framework.

It was just a way to habit a blueprint to kind of use as a way to branch off to different things.

When I attended college, I got really into jazz composition and just seeing the different frameworks of how that music works.

So I'd say that the music I'm playing today is kind of a Venn diagram of my musical roots as a kid growing up in the late '90s and 2000s and a big consumer of alternative rock, but then going to music school and learning jazz.

[playing melodically; softly, & slowly] ♪ [playing rhythmic jazz rock] ♪ [instruments only; no vocals] [guitar plays lead] ♪ ♪ ♪ [bass plays lead] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [instruments only; no vocals] ♪ ♪ [bass & keys play lead] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [guitar plays lead] ♪ ♪ [instruments only; no vocals] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [tempo slows] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [keyboard intro] [playing melodic jazz] ♪ ♪ ♪ [instruments only; no vocals, guitar plays lead] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [instruments only; no vocals, guitar & keys play lead] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [instruments only; no vocals] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [keyboard outro solo] ♪ The music that my group is performing today was all written during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

I treat this music as kind of the soundtrack to my catharsis while navigating burnout recovery.

I think for a lot of folks that period of time was a pretty dark time, and I personally was at a place where I was not really sure if I wanted to return to music.

which is a pretty scary place to be especially after devoting so much time and energy to that craft.

The music that my group is performing today was kind of meant for me to kind of get realigned with writing and playing music again.

A lot of the different themes, they're influenced by nostalgia, heartbreak,love, anger, and for me just as a performer, trying to write something that I knew that I would enjoy writing.

The next song that we're going to be performing for you is called "Candyland."

This is a tune that I really tried to challenge myself to see if I could incorporate a lot of jazz guitar influence-- things that I had studied while in music school, but really filter it through kind of like a 2000s alternative rock mindset.

[playing rhythmic jazz-rock] [guitar plays lead] ♪ [instruments only; no vocals] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [instruments only, no vocals, guitar plays lead] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [instruments only; no vocals, guitar plays lead] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [keyboard solo] ♪ ♪ [guitar & keys in lead] [instruments only; no vocals] ♪ ♪ ♪ A piece of advise that I'd like to pass down was a piece of advice given to me by the high school orchestra teacher from Fergus Falls, Mark Solie, he taught me at a performance by another previous Prairie Musicians guest, Anthony Miltich I remember Mark asking me "What do you think about this?

I said something along the lines of oh I really wish that I could do something like this.

He said, you're not going to get anywhere with that.

You can't spend all of your time just wishing, you need to be making moves and doing the work.

Essentially it's just kind of like, it's very easy to dream, but it's much harder to start with the first beginning steps.

So my advice is just to start.

I think from that point on the pieces kind of fall into place.

[playing slow, soft, & smooth jazz] [instruments only; no vocals] [guitar in lead] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [instruments only; no vocals, guitar plays lead] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [instruments only; no vocals, guitar plays lead] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [instruments only; no vocals, guitar plays lead] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ My favorite thing about playing live, there is a head space that I think that every musician maybe gets to experience.

maybe a couple times a year where there's just like this supreme mental clarity where everything either you sing or play is coming out the way that you're hearing it in your head.

And you just feel like you're one with your instrument.

So I feel like I experience that maybe twice a year, and then the rest of the year I'm just chasing that feeling again.

This next song we'll play for you is called "Don't Shoot the Messenger."

It is a response to ignorance and racial profiling.

[playing in syncopated jazz rhythm] [instruments only; no vocals] [guitar plays lead] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [instruments only; no vocals, guitar plays lead] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [tempo slows, volume softens] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [instruments only; no vocals, guitar plays lead] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [instruments only; no vocals, guitar plays lead] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (woman) Prairie Musicians is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota, and by the members of Prairie Public.