Albert Lee TOUR DATE BKINGS-PROMOTION-RADIO SHOWS, etc., GO TO www.albertleeandhogansheroes.com & Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings w/Albert Lee: www.billwyman.com
ALBERT & (& KAREN'S) DAUGHTER ALEX LEE @ SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA WEEKEND OF 8.21.09. AWESOME.
Influences
X'S 2!!!!! 2008/09 Grammy Award Winner for Best Country Instrumental for "Custer Pluck" on Brad Paisley's track won on the 8th of February 2009.
2002 Grammy Award Winner for 'Foggy Mountain Breakdown' from the CD Earl Scruggs and Friends won a Grammy on 27th February 2002 for Best Country Instrumental Performance (Earl Scruggs, Glen Duncan, Randy Scruggs, Steve Martin, Vince Gill, Marty Stuart, Gary Scruggs, Albert Lee, Paul Shaffer, Jerry Douglas and Leon Russell). Albert is undoubtedly one of the finest guitarists the world has ever seen. Voted Guitar Player Magazine’s “Best Country Guitar Picker” five times, Albert also received two consecutive nominations for a Grammy Award in the Best Instrumental category and in October 1995 received a coveted Gold Badge Award from B.A.S.C.A. (The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors). In 1997 Albert was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by B.C.M.A. (The British Country Music Association). Albert has earned the worldwide respect of artistes, musicians and fans alike, across many different styles of music. He is truly a musician’s musician, with an impeccable pedigree achieved over many years' both touring and recording. Well respected by fellow musicians and fans alike, he never ceases to amaze with his unique style and enormous talent. In November 2002 Albert was amongst other world class names appearing at the Royal Albert Hall in the 'Concert for George', a tribute to George Harrison.
Albert is also an accomplished piano player and has a fine singing voice with the ability to switch from a soulful ballad to 'tearing it up' rock 'n roll style. Albert has excited audiences for many years as a member of Chris Farlowe’s Thunderbirds, Country Fever, Head Hands and Feet, Eric Clapton’s band, Emmylou Harris’s Hotband, and The Crickets. Co-writer of Country Boy and writer of many other great songs, Albert's career extends to appearing and recording with many of the finest artists in the music industry, including Glen Campbell, Dave Edmunds, Dolly Parton, Bobby Bare, Joan Armatrading, Ricky Scaggs, Joe Cocker, Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt, Rodney Crowell, Vince Gill, Travis Tritt, The Blue Caps, Robert Wells and Earl Scruggs. Albert has also toured extensively with the Everly Brothers since their reunion concert in 1983.
Albert is a popular member of Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings, thrilling audiences with his playing and singing. He features prominently on the band's CDs and video. In great demand by other artistes, he has played on countless sessions not only in Nashville but all over the world. Albert has fronted his own band Hogan’s Heroes (a talented group of musicians in their own right) since the late eighties. Albert has five solo albums to his credit and two albums with Hogan’s Heroes in addition to numerous albums with the artistes mentioned above. His latest album, Heartbreak Hill, released on the Sugar Hill label in October 2003, is one not to miss. Contributing to this great album is the cream of the industry, a tribute in itself to the rare talent of a great man.
Albert Lee's impeccable country music and rock pedigree stretches back over more than 40 years. He has performed with many of the greats in country and rock, including Joe Cocker, Emmylou Harris, Eric Clapton and the Everly Brothers. As well as being a top guitarist, he is also a red hot piano player and a pretty good singer too.
Albert's Biography
A Biography of Albert Lee
ca. 65 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
hardcover (7 x 10) 2008
Available NOW!! Best known for his unique musical style and blindingly fast hybrid picking technique, English guitarist Albert Lee is often referred to within the music industry as the "guitar player's guitar player," renowned for his work across several genres of music and for the respect that he has garnered from other industry giants.
This comprehensive biography tells the entire story of Lee's long career and personal experiences, beginning with his upbringing in south London and his early experimentations with skiffle music (the British equivalent of American rockabilly). The story continues into the 1960s, through Lee's career in Chris Farlowe's Thunderbirds and the British rock and country group Heads, Hands & Feet before covering Lee's move to the United States in the 1970s and his subsequent work with Eric Clapton, the Crickets, Emmylou Harris and the Hot Band, the Everly Brothers, and, more recently, with Bill Wyman and with Hogan's Heroes. Throughout the work, the author sets Lee's career against the background of changes in popular music and assesses how Lee, as a British artist with nomadic Romany roots, has impacted traditionally "American" musical genres.
The work includes 66 photographs, many from Lee's personal collection, two appendices, and an extensive bibliography.
All Music Guide Review
This reissue is both welcome and irritating. The welcome part is that this brilliant music, by one of those more ubiquitous if under-recognized session guitarists of the 1970s and 1980s, is finally available in a remastered edition on CD, thanks to Australia's Raven label. Albert Lee's20A&M session Hiding was recorded in two different stages. The first was with Lee playing virtually everything but bass and drums with old friends Dave Peacock and Chas Hodges. The second and definitive stage was when he became a touring member of Emmylou Harris' Hot Band, enlisting her then-husband, Brian Ahern, and the entire band (which included Ricky Skaggs, Hank DeVito, Emory Gordy, Rodney Crowell, and Glen D. Hardin) with session cats like Buddy Emmons and Mickey Raphael. The standard issue from Hiding was the tune "Country Boy," which has been covered by a dozen artists since. The sound of the record was close to the bone, full of fiddles, acoustic guitars, mandolins, funky bass and piano lines, and Lee's trademark electric blistering licks. Covers of the Louvins' "Are You Wasting My=2 0Time," John Reid's "Now and Then It's Gonna Rain," and three Crowell tunes -- including "Ain't Living Long Like This" -- rounded out the album. While Lee's singing leaves a bit to be desired here, it doesn't detract, either. But the masterpiece in this set is Lee's self-titled album from 1982. Producer Crowell, who was riding high with productions for Harris, his then-wife Rosanne Cash, and his own album, put together a band and helped Lee choose ten smoking tracks that showcased his abilities not only as a guitarist but as a frontman. The album opens with DeVito's pub rocker "Sweet Little Lisa" (this version is second only to Dave Edmunds' read of it) and slides right into John Hiatt's "Radio Girl" -- a version even better than the original. Lee contributed the slippery cruiser "Your Boys, " and Crowell gave him another pair of tunes to balance the equation with one more each by Hiatt and DeVito. The songs serve to offer a more rock & roll side of Lee. His first love may have been country, but Crowell heard in him what he heard in Nick Lowe and Edmunds, a British rocker whose love for American roots music translated into something entirely new. There isn't a substandard second on the latter album and it continues to be the high point in Lee's catalog as a solo artist. As for the irritating element of this release: why does it take a non-American label to reissue the finest gems from the North American labels that birthed them? Given that both of these records appeared on labels now owned by Universal, there is no excuse that they haven't been issued stateside. Perhaps Universal is so busy putting out its no-brainer, no-passion, mediocre Millennium Collections to notice the treasures in its own vault. It's shameful. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
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