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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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