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The Lee Boys



Last Updated: 12/18/2009

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City: Miami
State: Florida
Country: US
Signup Date: 12/12/2005

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Wednesday, December 02, 2009 
We have some exciting news!!!  We will be bringing our inspirational live show to Little Rock, Oklahoma City and Kansas City from Thursday, December 3rd through Saturday, December 5th while sharing the stage with HILL COUNTRY REVUE, the modern Southern Rock/Blues band for the new generation with Cody Dickinson & Chris Chew of North Mississippi Allstars!

Tickets for Little Rock only $10, more info www.revroom.com
Tickets for Oklahoma City Limits only $10, more info www.okcsoundstage.com
Tickets for Kansas City only $12, more info www.crosstownstation.com

If you can't make it to these special shows, check out our other tour dates coming up on our myspace page!

THE LEE BOYS
www.leeboys.com

4:05 PM 
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Thursday, November 05, 2009 
Our very own Roosevelt "The Doctor" Collier was announced as one of the Top 5 Blues guitarists in the country, who will compete in front of a live audience and a panel of judges at the upcoming King of the Blues Grand Finals on November 12th @ the House of Blues Sunset in Hollywood, CA. Tickets for this very special event are just $20, and are available at Ticketmaster.com or the HOB box office.

The Osceola News has written up Roosevelt's experiences in the early portion of the competition in a very interesting article that goes into how he started with music and got to master the pedal steel guitar.

Check out the links for more info, and we look forward to seeing y'all on the road soon!



http://gc.guitarcenter.com/kingoftheblues/
9:36 PM 
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Wednesday, August 05, 2009 

Missed out on legendary Aubrey Ghent with The Lee Boys? You'll get a little taste from this video from our July performance with him at the Bluebird Theater in Denver, thanks to our friends at MoBoogie!


http://moboogie.com/videos/?sort=latest&u=0&s=&b=lee%20boys&c=&g=&x=34&y=7
9:44 PM 
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Wednesday, March 25, 2009 
The Lee Boys are now on TWITTER. Come see what the fuss is all about.



Lee Boys profile on TWITTER.COM


5:19 AM 
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Wednesday, March 25, 2009 
Music DVD Review: The Lee Boys - The Lee Boys Live At Bonnaroo
Written by Richard Marcus
Published February 12, 2009


Normally when you think of steel guitar, especially pedal steel guitar, the last thing in the world that's going to come to mind is African American gospel music. A country gospel tune like "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" sure, but you don't ever expect to hear one playing in one of those earth shaking, hip swinging gospel choirs that inspired today's funk, soul, and blues musicians. Yet if you were a congregation member of The House Of God, Keith Dominion churches, steel guitar in shape or another is exactly what you'd have been hearing since the 1930's.

Sacred steel music was born out of the popularity of the Hawaiian Steel guitar in the early part of the twentieth century. Two brothers, Troman and Willie Eason were responsible for bringing the steel guitar to the House of God services in the 1930's. While Troman had learned how to play in the Hawaiian style, Willie had not had any formal training and simply played the music he was familiar with on this guitar. From such humble beginnings a genre was born.

The Lee Boys are a family group consisting of three brothers; Alvin (guitar), Derrick, and Keith (vocals) and three nephews; Roosevelt Collier (pedal steel guitar), Alvin Cordy Jr. (7 string bass), and Earl Walker (drums). They each grew up making music in a House of God congregation in Perrine Fl. where the brother's father was pastor and steel player. Having been playing together, or individually, in the church since they were seven they've not only developed into proficient musicians but have also learned the key elements for staging a successful show. You don't need to look any further than their new DVD release Live At Bonnaroo for evidence of just how impressive they are.

Sunday mornings at folk festivals were reserved for gospel groups from all over, and I guess Bonnaroo is keeping up that tradition as this recording is of a Sunday morning performance The Lee Boys gave at last year's festival. Now I can't think of a tougher time, or a harder audience to play for, than the Sunday morning of a festival. Half the crowd is either recovering from the night before, if they've even gone to bed yet, and the other half are just wandering onto the site and getting their bearings. A band has to be pretty special and be able to deliver a red hot performance in order to first grab, and then hold, this type of audience's attention for the length of the concert.

Well, not only are the Lee Boys able to pull off snaring this audience right from the word go, they have them in the palm of their hand all the way through the show. Now I hadn't been familiar with the band before listening to and watching this disc, and hadn't remembered that they were a gospel group, so it was a bit of a surprise on the first song to hear them calling out to the audience to testify and bear witness like they would if they were conducting a church service. To be honest I hadn't been paying too much attention to the lyrics either because the music had blown me away so much, so it wasn't even until the break of the first song, "Let's Celebrate" that I realized I was watching what was basically a tent revival meeting.

The House of God churches that gave birth to sacred steel integrated music into the whole service. Citing Psalms 150:4 "Praise Him with stringed instruments" and 149:3 "Let them praise His name in the dance," the steel guitarist who leads the band works with the congregation's minister so that in addition to playing actual songs, they work as punctuation for sermons and all other activities in the church.

When you watch The Lee Boys you quickly realize you might be able to take the music out of the church, but you can't take the church out of the music. However, as in the case with almost any art that's truly inspired by belief, what makes these guys so great is the passion they bring to what they're doing.

Sure the pedal steel guitar laying down the leads for the songs is a novelty that captures your attention for the first couple of songs, but once you get past that point there has to be something that holds your attention. Obviously part of that is the fact that these guys are an incredibly talented band. They might look like they're playing loose and sloppy, but are so tight you could throw a pin on them and it would bounce a mile straight up. Yet I've seen and heard plenty of bands who can play like that, who don't hold my attention or captivate me the way The Lee Boys are able to.

You can't help but be caught up in their energy from the moment they step on stage and start playing. Brothers Derrick and Keith on lead vocals don't stop even when they're not singing. During solos either one of them could be calling out to either the player or the audience exhorting and pushing them to have a good time, dance, sing, testify, or whatever they want to do that might demonstrate their joy at being alive. For that's what it feels like. Their concerts are really celebrating the joy of being alive, and it doesn't matter whether you believe in the same things they do or not because you can't help but be caught up in all the fun.

Unlike a lot of gospel bands, judging by this concert anyway, The Lee Boys play their own music. The one song on the disc that wasn't written by a current band member, "Joyful Sounds", was written by their late brother Glenn, a former member of the group. Another difference between them and most other gospel groups is their sound. For while you normally can hear in gospel music the roots of secular forms of African American music, The Lee Boys are a melting pot of soul, blues, R&B, and funk, coming together in what can only be described as a joyful noise.

The copy of the DVD I received was only a screener, so I've no idea if there are any special features as it didn't have menus, just started right in on the concert without any preamble. The sound quality was great and the camera work was a nice mixture of onstage shots, including close ups of individual leads, mixed with the occasional crowd shot. It's interesting to watch as the concert progressed the crowd growing increasingly responsive to the music and the band's entreaties to have fun and dance. By the end they've managed to get everybody up on their feet and moving to the music.

Sacred steel gospel music has been pretty much unknown outside of the communities where it's been played until the last few years. However with releases like The Lee Boys Live At Bonnaroo and bands playing at festivals and gigs across North America the rest of us are finally being let in on the secret. I can pretty much guarantee that you've never heard anything quite like it before and once you have you won't forget it in hurry.
4:38 AM 
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Monday, February 02, 2009 

http://www.chattanoogapulse.com/

www.leeboys.com
www.youtube.com/theleeboysmusic
www.myspace.com/thetravelinmccourys



Messengers for a New Movement
Written by Stephanie Smith
Wednesday, 28 January 2009 18:49
When the Lee Boys finished their set on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, the usually verbose host could only say, “Good Lord!”
The Lee Boys play an electrifying style of music known as “sacred steel.” For the audience members coming to see the Lee Boys show for the first time at Rhythm & Brews, bandleader Alvin Lee tells them to expect music that is, “Uplifting. It has an up-tempo spiritual feel infused with blues, funk, and soul. It’s not sittin’ down type of music; it gets you up.”

Sacred steel originated in a House of God church in Jacksonville, FL. Back in the 1930s, influenced by the Hawaiian steel-guitar fad, brothers Willie and Troman Eason introduced the electric lap steel guitar into worship services. Today, sacred steel is the driving musical force in the more than 53 House of God churches in Florida. Instead of a choir, piano, or organ leading the congregation in worship, the lap- and pedal-steel guitars are placed front and center to lead the celebration.

Alvin Lee has been playing sacred steel his whole life. Raised by a preacher father who had a very strict doctrine for his eight children, Alvin and his brother Glenn were the two youngest, and allowed a little more leniency, especially regarding incorporating secular influences into their church’s traditional music.

“I give a lot of kudos to my father. We were raised in a faith, and even though we were trained as musicians in the church, our father let us be in jazz band at school and let us set up our own style in the sacred steel movement. We were also able to listen to a lot of ’80s jazz/funk,” he laughs, “although we had to kind of secretly do it.”

According to House of God doctrine, sacred music is not supposed to be played outside the walls of the church, so sacred steel was a virtually unknown musical genre until the mid-1990s when folklorist Robert Stone made recordings of the music at House of God services.

Alvin and Glenn continued to play in church until 2000, when their father and Glenn died within months of each other. Glenn, who died of cancer at age 32, was one of the most influential pedal-steel players of his generation. By the time of his death, other family members had gotten into the act: Alvin’s older brothers Derrick and Keith (vocals) and their nephews Roosevelt Collier (pedal-steel guitar and Glenn’s protégé), Alvin Cordy Jr. (seven-string bass), and Earl Walker (drums). Alvin felt called to a mission and persuaded his family members to go out on the road.

“When we decided to take the music out of the four walls, I thought all the way back to Glenn and me spending countless hours in our Mama’s bedroom infusing everything from Michael Jackson to our school band scores into our music. It became so important to us; the music was motivating. There are still a lot of people in the church today who believe that (sacred steel) should only be in the church, but we have touched so many lives that I don’t see why. So many people come up to us and say ‘You’ve blessed me’ and this is about music. This is not a religion, but a movement of a style of music. Music can’t be denied.”

Alvin is just happy to lead the way. He knows the Lee Boys are messengers for a new movement and he knows what their mission is. “I learned about being a leader from my father. He always had an open heart towards people, particularly musicians. I’m always the daddy. I’m the daddy on the road to my nephews. When I’m at home, my kids know I’m daddy and their coach, even though they know I’m also a musician. And it’s good for the whole music world that my wife is so supportive. When we’re on the road, it’s not about us being big and famous but about sharing this music and style. Our mission is to touch one person.”

The Lee Boys have not only touched the lives of countless audience members, they have been welcomed by the rest of the music world. Last year they played more than 100 tour dates and over the past eight years they’ve never known who might drop by to sit in on their set.

“That jazz/funk [infusion] gave us our edge, but it also made us humble. We want to share what we know, what we have been doing all our lives, but we don’t know who a lot of guest musicians are that show up. One night our manager said ‘Do this set with this guy’ and when he comes out onstage the audience starts going crazy and we find out it’s Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead. We are not intimidated because we want to share, but sometimes we’re in awe.”

The Lee Boys have awed crowds with guest artists and touring partners such as Weir, The Allman Brothers Band, The Black Crowes, Los Lobos, and Del McCoury. They have headlined such festivals as the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Memphis in May, Austin City Limits, and Bonnaroo.

The press has sung their praises as well. The Chicago Sun Times said, “The Lee Boys’ House of God-inspired sacred steel music may be what Jimi Hendrix had in mind with his grand plan for ‘electric sky church music.’” From the September 2007 issue of OFFBEAT in New Orleans: “…their sound has become a sensation with a secular audience that responds to its happy foot groove and virtuoso guitar technique.” USA Today said “The Lee Boys rocked the blues tent…audience members danced in the aisles, jumped up and down and waved their arms to the mounting melody.”

On Saturday, the Lee Boys bring their sacred steel to Rhythm & Brews in their first combined winter tour with the Travelin’ McCourys. It’s a musical combination that Ronnie McCoury says goes together, “like peanut butter and jelly.”

The bands first met at Delfest last year and then again at Warren Haynes Christmas Benefit in Nashville. At the time, Ronnie McCoury (mandolin) and Rob McCoury (banjo) were well known for being part of their father’s legendary Del McCoury Band.

Del was an original Bluegrass Boy with Bill Monroe, who is credited with being the father of bluegrass music. In 1981, Del took his son Ronnie on a field trip to Lincoln Center where Bill Monroe let Ronnie play his mandolin. Ronnie got hooked and joined the band at age 13. After years of pickin’ under various band names and with various bandmates, Del changed the name of his band to The Del McCoury Band and in 1987 Rob joined the group on banjo. The past 20 years have been a family affair.

“This tour is about us stepping out and finding our own way,” says Ronnie. “The future’s inevitable and he (Del’s) all for it. We’ve been playing for a long time and (The Del McCoury Band) is still our number-one thing; it just keeps getting bigger and better. Dad’s probably sitting at home twiddling his thumbs right now, but he knows we gotta try to do something different and he’s 100 percent supportive.”

When Ronnie met the Lee Boys at Delfest, he felt an instant connection.

“We have a common ground in pickin’ and it felt right to blend black gospel with bluegrass because a lot of bluegrass comes out of gospel. It was an improvisation; Roosevelt’s a great steel player but he’s a lead instrument and in bluegrass you generally pass the lead around—you never know if people are going to stick within a form or not. When we hit it—and they were not used to what we do or we what they do but we were playing songs we’ve all heard—we knew it was something special.”
When again at the Warren Haynes Christmas Benefit the sound jelled, the bands began pitching the idea for a tour. The first night of their tour, Wednesday, January 21, 2009, they knew their instincts for further collaboration were right.

“I don’t think we’re trying to do this. It just feels good each night. Money and publicity aren’t playing into this. We play and the audience gets their bluegrass fix and they play and the audience gets their steel fix and then we stretch it out and pull it back together. Lot of bluegrass people and fans of theirs scratch their head at this, but they have a good time. We’re happy-go-lucky people and so are they and it kind of shows on stage.”

“I’m a firm believer that things happen for a reason. Maybe there’s something higher moving these bands together, but it’s nothing that we planned. Collaboration shows that we all share a common ground. We’re not trying to prove anything; we’re just trying to say ‘Hey, people from two totally different backgrounds and types of music can come together.’ That’s the way that America’s great; it could be the right exact time to do this. It could all be for a reason.”



3:47 AM 
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Monday, January 26, 2009 
Thanks to iclips.net for the great videos of Jamcruise.

Lee Boys set from 1/8/2009 JamCruise 7
6:02 AM 
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Saturday, January 03, 2009 
LEE BOYS.COM
LEE BOYS YOUTUBE Page
TRAVELIN MCCOURYS Myspace Page




Lee Boys/Travelin' McCoury tour poster


The Lee Boys:
The Lee Boys transcend the boundaries set by musical genres; their music is an energetic blend of R&B, gospel, hip-hop, rock and country driven by the pedal steel guitar. 2008 has been a monumental year for the band, having performed at over 50 of the biggest music festivals in the U.S., culminating with an appearance on Late Night With Conan O'Brien on December 8th; a performance on the prestigious West Virginia Public Radio show, Mountain Stage; and successful tours with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Michelle Shocked, Susan Tedeschi, Victor Wooten and more.

The Travelin' McCourys:
The Travelin' McCourys consists of the band members of the most awarded group in the history of bluegrass -The Del McCoury Band- uniquely paired with elements of other touring bands in configurations purposely reminiscent of the Traveling Wilburys. The Travelin' McCourys is comprised of Ron McCoury on mandolin, Rob McCoury on banjo, Jason Carter on fiddle, and Alan Bartram on bass. They will be joined on this tour with three members from Dre's Rude Awakening: Dre' Anders (vocalist), Shane Theriot (guitar), and Johnny Neel (keyboards). This touring unit blends the best of the Appalachian tradition with the improvisational magic of jazz, folk, and blues. Unique live collaborations are the hallmark of their performances, and demonstrate why critics and musicians across the world hail the McCourys as the best bluegrass band in the world. There may not be a major festival where they have not performed—from Bonnaroo to the Jazz Series at Carnegie Hall.

The two bands recently performed together at Warren Hayne's annual "Christmas Jam" in Asheville, NC, and received rave reviews! Here are a few comments on the collaboration.
"…but the appearance of The Lee Boys for a performance of 'Celebrate' was one of the highlights of the first night's show. The merging of the soulful gospel of The Lee Boys and the traditional bluegrass of McCoury left the audience begging for more. On a night full of musical magic, McCoury and The Lee Boys may have out David Copperfield-ed even the most astute aural magicians."
-Jambase.com

"The Lee Boys were absolutely, jaw-droppingly amazing at the 2008 Warren Haynes Christmas Jam – in particular, when they jammed with the Del McCoury Band, it was one of those electric, pinch-me moments music lovers live for. The looks on both bands' faces would suggest they were just as amazed as the audience, too."
-Fred Mills, Managing Editor, Blurt Magazine/Blurt-online.com (ex-Harp)

"One of the best parts of the night was Del McCoury playing… Then the Lee Boys came out and did this awesome version of "Celebrate" with Del McCoury. It was neat watching a bluegrass group collide with black gospel infused R&B. It was world peace on that stage. I loved it."
-From Mountain Xpress Forum
Click for TICKETS for Jan 21st in Athens, Georgia
Click for TICKETS for Jan 22nd in Boone, NC
Click for TICKETS to Jan 23rd in Atlanta, Georgia
Click for TICKETS to Jan 24th in Hilton Head, SC
Click for TICKETS for Jan 30th in Birmingham, AL
Click for TICKETS to Jan. 31st for Chattanooga, TN
3:37 PM 
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Thursday, December 11, 2008 
Live From Bonnaroo 2008 DVD To Be Released In January

The Live From Bonnaroo 2008 DVD originally was offered to last year's Bonnaroo festivalgoers when they purchased tickets. The DVD is being made available to the general public next month with pre-orders currently underway. Live From Bonnaroo 2008 collects performances and backstage footage from last year's event remixed in stereo and 5.1 surround sound. The tracks include songs from: My Morning Jacket ("I'm Amazed"), Metallica ("Fade to Black"), Pearl Jam ("Better Man"), The Lee Boys ("Come .. Me Lift Him Up"), The Raconteurs ("Old Enough"), Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings ("Let Them Knock"), Chali 2na featuring Galactic ("Lock Shit/Right Now"), Jack Johnson ("If I Had Eyes") and Les Claypool ("One Better").


From Jambands. com
(http://jambands. com/News. phtml?newsfile=redesign_news394. html12-10-34)

The Lee Boys and A Taste of Licorice

The Lee Boys were in New York City for a pair of appearances earlier this week.
On Monday the group performed "Come .. Me Lift Him Up" on Late Night with
Conan O'Brien. Then on Tuesday the group traveled to Sullivan Hall for their
final Northeast date of 2008. The band delivered a blazing set, which also
included a guest appearance by guitarist David Lott of show-opener Licorice.
Lott sat in for "Don't Let the Devil Ride" which segued into Solomon Burke's
"Everybody Needs Someone to Love." This weekend, The Lee Boys will perform at
Christmas Jam, while Licorice's next gig is on Thursday night at Castaways in
Ithaca, NY.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT IN '08, T'WAS GREAT! '09 IS LOOKIN' MIGHTY FINE!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!
3:09 PM 
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Tuesday, December 02, 2008 

Category: Music
If you would​ like to atten​d the LEE BOYS perfo​rmanc​e on CONAN​ O BRIEN​ show DEC 8th they will be GIVIN​G AWAY (​FREE)​75 ticke​ts on the 49th stree​t side of the build​ing at 9 am on Dec. 8th.

*​*​This is on the 49th side of the NBC build​ing at Rocke​felle​r Plaza​*​*​

Lee Boys will also be perfo​rming​ in Nashv​ille Dec 21st.​

www.leebo​ys.​com

www.youtu​be.​com/​thele​eboys​music​
3:23 PM 
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