These days I spend a lot of time writing about what’s wrong with too many too fast changes in Austin. Some people tell me to shut up, if I don’t like it then just leave. Well it’s not that simple. The thing is, I love far more than I unlove about Austin and the things I love most here I can count on my thumbs: My Friends and Music. There’s a Venn Diagram the two form and I am so fortunate to count so many incredible Austin musicians as my friends.
One of these friends is Lee Barber. I’ve known Lee for a couple of decades now, met him when our boys were toddlers. A few years back I performed Lee’s daughter’s wedding. And I run into him out and about at shows. The shows where I most enjoy crossing his path are the ones at which he is the man in front of the microphone. As far as I’m concerned, these do not happen nearly enough. But when they do-- man. I just sit and listen spellbound by his words, his voice, his guitar, and by the incredible musicians he gathers around.
I am thrilled beyond thrilled then to tell you that Lee has a new record out, The Missing Pages, which just dropped and which will be officially baptized out into the world on Saturday, 27 June 2015 at Strange Brew. I’ll be there, hiding in the shadows as I always do, paying rapt attention. I had the honor and pleasure of receiving an advance copy of the album and I’ve listened to it roughly eighty bazillion times in the last month. Hearing it live is going to be this summer’s big live music thrill.
This is only Lee’s second solo effort, the last being 2009′s Thief and Rescue (which I wrote about here). That effort was a critics’ darling, something you might call a sleeper on the national level, but here in Austin all of us music nerds were instantly smitten and for a joyful spell KUT had it in pretty heavy rotation.
There’s something so slow and deliberate and deep at the heart of all of his songs, lyrics woven of dreamy wordscapes, indelible melodies, rich harmonies, intense imagery. When I listen I think of swollen skies before the downpour, chocolate torte deliciously heavy on the plate, vivid swirling colors inside sleep-weighted eyelids. And holding all of this together is, first and foremost, Lee’s voice, at once steady on and edgy, inviting you in in an instant, insisting you stay for awhile.
Here are a few lyrics from the cut Modern Life:
The highway’s always humming
Even in the early morning
Endless blooming machinations
Tumble into predawn kitchens
Once we drifted high enough
To look down on a school of human fishes
On that one Dana Falconberry lends an assist with her gorgeous pipes, one of so very many stellar Austin talents to grace this brilliant work. You’ll also catch Brian Beattie on bass (BB also recorded and mixed this record and the first), Sahara Smith (soooo beautiful on Don’t Talk), Dony Wynn on drums, Scrappy Jud on guitar, Jon Greene on drums, Seela-- one of my very very favorite Austin singers-- on vocals, and so many others.
As a listener I’m bummed that Lee only puts out a record once every half-dozen years. As a writer it’s a bit of a relief. Because though I’m hardly ever at a loss, I admit I always struggle very much to come up with a way to convey the beauty of Lee’s songs, to try to show a little bit the way they work.
So far, the best I’ve been able to come up with is a curious analogy. A little background-- among the many books I’ve written, three have been (curiously enough) on the topic of quilts. My research on this subject gave me a chance to really explore these very famous works, The Quilts of Gee’s Bend, made by a group of women from a very poor hamlet in Alabama. At first glance, the quilts appear to be somewhat simple-- geometric works in bold colors. But the more you look, the more you see. Once, I foolishly thought I could make a quilt that paid homage to the style. I failed miserably, discovering in my efforts the true complexity of the work.
My mind kept coming back to those quilts as I listened to The Missing Pages. On first listen I immediately stepped into the songs, they felt easily accessible, and on one level they are. But then, the longer I listen, the deeper I dive, as I discover another detail and another and then more still. I get lost in this record in the very best sense of the word lost. I swim in it, I float on it, I submerge myself. And ultimately I resurface, profoundly moved by the great depths I encountered.
I sure hope you’ll join me at the show on Saturday 27 June 2015 at 9 pm at Strange Brew. In the meanwhile, you can grab a copy of The Missing Pages here. And you can find out all about Lee over at Lee Barber Music.
