Artist: Frankie Lee
Album: American Dreamer
Bitrate: 242kbps avg
Quality: EAC Secure Mode / LAME 3.98.4 / -V0 / 44.100Khz
Label: Loose Music
Genre: Rock
Size: 72.68 megs
PlayTime: 0h 40min 00sec total
Rip Date: 2015-09-27
Store Date: 2015-10-02
Track List:
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01. High And Dry 4:50
02. Where Do We Belong 3:33
03. Queen Of Carolina 4:07
04. East Side Blues 5:30
05. Black Dog 3:24
06. Buffalo 3:33
07. Honest Man 4:33
08. Know By Now 3:19
09. Horses 4:28
10. American Dreamer 2:43
Release Notes:
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Born on the banks of the Mississippi river, LeeÆs family later moved to
Minneapolis. Following the death of his father in a motorcycle accident when he
was 12, Frankie immersed himself in the cityÆs music scene, appearing onstage
with local heroes Slim Dunlap (The Replacements) and Curtiss A at the
impressionable age of 14. After inheriting records and instruments from his
fatherÆs collection, Lee was û as he sees it û ôtaught to play guitar by a
ghostö. He continues, ôI was raised on stage. These guys would bring me into the
clubs, sit me behind the soundboard and give me all the coca cola I could drink
until theyÆd call me up for a song or two at the end of the night.ö
At the age of 20 Lee dropped out of college, re-invested his soccer scholarship
funds in a Volvo Station wagon and embarked on a life-long love affair with
AmericaÆs open roads. LeeÆs first stop was Nashville, where he met Merle Haggard
on the same day he drove into town. Lee then moved on to Austin, TX where he
spent 6 years working for Townes Van ZandtÆs son JT building cabinets. The two
became good friends and Lee played his first show at a night hosted by JT.
ôAustin was a Mecca for me. The scene at the time was bursting wide open with
everything from Western swing cover bands to Roky EriksonÆs psychedelic garage
rock. I was out almost every night for 6 years. There was never an excuse to
stay in.ö
Soon after he turned 22, Lee was diagnosed with narcolepsy, and was prescribed
methamphetamines to counteract its effects. Over the next two years Lee
struggled to find a midpoint between sleepwalking and speeding, and developed a
serious drug habit in the process he has since kicked. ôI ran out of pills for
the last time, went to bed for a week, and I havenÆt really woken up since,ö he
laughs. Returning to his nomadic lifestyle, Lee spent a year living in a farm
truck and on couches in Los Angeles. Eventually, he was taken in by friend and
famed engineer Patrick McCarthy (U2, REM, Madonna). The move proved pivotal in
LeeÆs songwriting career as McCarthy taught him how to listen and record the
music he was hearing in his head.
In 2010 Lee moved back from California to Minnesota to be closer to his family.
In a series of diners and motels during the long drive home he penned the songs
which were later released on his DIY æMiddle WestÆ EP. Lee has spent the last 3
years working on a hog farm in rural Minnesota and developing songs for his
debut album. Many of these songs reflect his change in focus from the guitar to
the piano, a move necessitated by a farming accident that crushed of the three
fingers on his left hand. Of his return to the landscape that is the backdrop of
so many of his songs, Lee says, ôIÆd been gone 10 years. I decided when I got
back home, to really go back home, back to the land and the people who shaped
me. The people I come from are North Dakota wheat farmers. Hardworking,
soft-spoken, Scandinavians who moved to the middle of nowhere with nothing, and
of that place made everything they needed. ThereÆs a movement now to get back to
that way of living, and if weÆre gonna last a while then I think thatÆs the only
way weÆre gonna make it.ö