So, I stopped in to hear The Lee Boys the other night. My good friend Bill Stevens has been touring with them and invited me to the show. They are family; (the uncle) Alvin Lee on rhythm guitar – great pocket player – and his cousins, including Roosevelt “the Dr.” Collier on pedal and lap steel guitars….the Dr. is smokin’! I hadn’t previously met them, or heard them perform live. My brother Jon did tell me about an after-party show he attended in NYC – during the most recent Allman Brothers Band Beacon Theatre run – where he heard “the Dr.” collaborating with Kofi Burbridge and others; they performed a bunch of Hendrix.
By the time I got to the club, The Lee Boys were already into their set. What a GREAT band!!! It wasn’t a big audience, but there was no lack of enthusiasm and the same goes for the Lee Boys: they performed as if the house was packed, intense energy.
About an hour into it, I had moved to the edge of the stage and was taking it all in…the band was grooving, as Alvin turned in my direction, caught my eye and motioned me up to the stage. I hadn’t planned on sitting-in, but what the hell! We shook hands, introduced ourselves as the band played on; he handed me his guitar and the rest is history. BIG FUN.
As posted on Facebook, by NC Band Together‘s own Danny Rosin (thanks Danny!):
“This is what happens when The Lee Boys spontaneously pull one of NC’s native music sons on stage, Mr. Scott Sawyer.“