It helps to be children of art. Willing or unwilling who is the son of an artist has a better chance of being introduced into the artistic environment of his father and maybe follow in his footsteps.
Often, however, all this is not followed by talent and we find ourselves children of art who, without having made a success and without having the titles, have undeserved success.
Here, the daughter of the great David Lee would have the right cards to become a great singer and a great songwriter, even without being the daughter of one who wrote songs that have won Grammy or climbed the charts.
Lee was the author of successful songs that he wrote for Cody Johnson, Faith Hill and Montgomery Gentry and his daughter Jessee Lane collects the legacy, but declines it with a personality and originality really enviable.
This very young girl grew up in Texas, where the family settled down, and so in addition to breathing and eating music in the house, she could also go out and go around.
Music is part of the social fabric of the state and has crept into the blood and soul of this 25-year-old who has now performed in the most legendary venues you can think of: Gruene Hall, John T. Floore’s Country Store, Dosey Doe…
But not only in Texas, Jessee has also participated in major festivals for independent songwriters such as the Key West Songwriter Festival, the Mississippi Songwriter Festival or the Florabama.
I was not influenced in the discovery of this artist by the fact that she was the daughter of a great songwriter, I make amends I did not know, but I must tell you that her voice and her ability to write beautiful songs has impressed me very much.
Her voice is powerful and persuasive as the soul voices that gave birth to a genre from Muscle Shoals in Alabama, but also has the character that makes me think immediately of the late English singer Amy Winehouse.
All this without forgetting the country influences in the way of writing and interpreting as the greats of the past Dolly Parton or Tammy Wynette.
A taste of ancient, a taste of good hovers over this recording debut and some attendants, much more competent than myself, coined the perfect term to call the music of the talented Jessee Lee: vintage-Americana-Soul.
The sunny smile of the cover accompanies us inside the dive bar, where her voice will be the real superstar.
Do not be fooled by the young age, this girl has a maturity in writing enviable songs and her stories will make inroads in the hearts of independent music lovers: true stories, difficult stories, families, loves that tear the soul and difficulty to find a place in the world.
She says she has already written over 200 songs and after listening to the 7 that make up this Dive Bar Superstar, if the quality is this, her name will be destined to be increasingly known.
The production of the album is entrusted to the hands and especially ears of dad David, who helps his daughter behind the console together with the sound engineer Austin Stanley and mastered by Luke Wooten.
Press play and a country soul sound will invade your speakers with You’re Gonna Be Your Mama has a persuasive, dragged, enveloping and the voice of Jessee is so intense and powerful that you can not hear it in loop.
The title track is a fun country track, violin and rhythm, and the voice immediately adapts to the change of rhythm and we imagine it unleashing dances right in one of the bars celebrated by the title.
Beautiful and fun. The piano solo first and violin then project us into a dusty and wild saloon.
Where He Ain’t is a country where the voice makes the difference, as well as the words she tells us.
The violin gives a melancholy aura to this song really arranged great and enriched by the masterful work of the band behind this talented girl.
The next one, Crazy House, has a fantastic appeal, slightly honky tonk and a lot, a lot of soul. The guitar gives character, the rhythm wraps and the voice abducts.
A fun and, I tell you to do, arranged and produced with skill.
Want a vintage ballad? That looks like it came out of an old transistor radio? Put on the plate (we remain vintage too) Black Wolf and let yourself be guided by the voice of Jessee in a piece that seems to come out of a session with Dolly Parton and the guitar solo and violin very ’50s is pure delight.
The piano that opens Stay Sweet Heart is a hint of classy jazz and Jessee Lee with the character of a crooner consumed by experience captivates our hearts with a piece that also features a sax, wrapped in the smoke of a club catapulted here from the past. Original and unsettling.
A convincing, original and damn vintage debut. The ability to write songs that embrace more genres proving credible is not for everyone. The pieces written by Jessee Lee are as original and seductive as her voice, so beautiful, so powerful and bewitching.
The lesson of the great songwriters who are her inspirers, has been assimilated to the great and declined with character and personality.
If the 200 pieces she wrote follow the quality of these 7 songs, I can say that I have found an artist who will remain in my playlist for a long time.
A fun, exciting and elegant record that could be well played in a dusty Texas club, as well as in a smoky jazz club in Greenwich Village and, trust me, is not really an everyday thing.
Good listening,
Trex Willer by http://www.ticinonotizie.it
(in Ticino Notizie web site you can find original italian version of this article)
