 Tim Lee swings for the fences with `Concrete Dog' IF YOU GO Tim Lee Band CD release party with Rob Russell and the Sore Losers WHEN: Starts at 7 tonight with a ``listening party'' at Backroom BBQ, adjacent to Patrick Sullivan's WHERE: Patrick Sullivan's Saloon, 100 N. Central St., Knoxville's Old City HOW MUCH: $5 CALL: 637-4255 ON THE WEB: www.timleemusic.com By Steve Wildsmith of The Daily Times Staff For the first time since he started recording his own music again back in 2001, Tim Lee isn't in a hurry to get back into the studio. Sure, he's got a new album out this week -- ``Concrete Dog,'' perhaps his best work to date -- and yeah, he's known for having itchy guitar-picking fingers when it comes to getting new music out there. Not only has he recorded three albums in the past five years -- ``Under the House,'' ``No Discretion'' and now ``Concrete Dog'' -- he's also appeared as a sideman and studio musician on more than a dozen other albums. But the results of ``Concrete Dog'' speak for themselves, even to Lee's ears. ``This is the first time in a while I've not finished a record and wanted to start another one right away,'' Lee told The Daily Times this week. ``I'm just taking my time and figuring out how to approach another one. I'm going to see what sort of presents itself, and I'm putting more effort into trying to promote this record than I've ever done, personally. I've enjoyed the whole process, even though our house is like one giant office now, with CDs and T-shirts everywhere.'' The ``our'' in that equation is Susan Bauer Lee, Lee's wife and bass player. Mrs. Lee plays an integral role on ``Concrete Dog,'' her bass playing more assured and her name listed as a co-writer on seven of the album's 13 songs. Playing with his wife and partner made the process more of a group effort, Lee said. ``It's really kind of a different animal in that it was done mostly with a band as opposed to whoever was around, like we've done in the past,'' Lee said. ``The other thing that was different was Susan's contribution to the songwriting. She kind of opened things up, and in a lot of ways, that made it easier. We got halfway through the making of the record, and we got into the rhythm of the songwriting thing together. Once it started flowing, we had more stuff to work with, and that was new for me, because I haven't done a lot of co-writing in a long time.'' But he's certainly no stranger to it. In fact, Lee got started playing music in Jackson, Miss., in 1982, and his work with the power-pop duo The Windbreakers is considered some of the most influential, if unknown, influences on college rock in the 1980s. Along with his Windbreakers recordings, his solo works and side projects with Matt Piucci (of Rain Parade) and Howard Wuelfing (Nurses, Half Japanese) have garnered critical praise from Rolling Stone, Creem, Matter, Forced Exposure, The New York Times and more. He's toured the country extensively with his own bands and as a sideman for Let's Active, Marti Jones, and the Swimming Pool Q's. In 1988, he released his first solo album after recording six with The Windbreakers. ``What Time Will Tell'' featured members of the Bongos, the dBs, Chris Stamey Group, the Wygals and Let's Active, and was hailed by one critic as ``a stunning album, the kind of unexpected triumph that restores your faith in the power of art.'' Another solo album led to the regrouping of The Windbreakers and retrospective recordings with several side projects. In the mid-1990s, he took a break from the music business and, along with Susan, moved to Knoxville. He didn't stay out of the music game for long. After releasing ``Under the House'' in 2001, he returned with ``No Discretion'' in 2004, an album that showcased a more rocking, confident sound. ``Concrete Dog'' carries that one step further. The album kicks off with a snarling, surly guitar line that sets the pace for the record -- scattergun riffs and a driving backbeat courtesy of a top-notch rhythm section, Susan Bauer Lee and Don Coffey Jr. Coffey's skin-pounding on the rollicking ``Alone Together'' is evidence that time in the studio as a producer hasn't taken away from his musical prowess, and Bauer, who only took up the bass a few years ago, more than hangs with the boys. ``Real Bad Habit'' veers into punk territory, while ``So Little Tell'' uses a piano retro and a restrained vocal approach to craft an introspective rocker of understated power (listen to Neil Young's ``Trans Am'' or ``I'm the Ocean'' for reference). ``Live Through Me'' draws on Lee's 1980s college-rock roots (it's a song that would have fit right at home on R.E.M.'s ``Life's Rich Pageant''), as does ``Black and White To Me,'' which features backing vocals, handclaps and background guitar that gives the song a heftier punch. But while it's all good music, it's not all fun and games; Lee tackles some serious topics as well. ``Get Up, Get Up'' tells the story of a New Orleans couple struggling to overcome the rising tide and sinking chaos in the aftermath of Katrina; ``Greyhound from Jackson'' sees Lee singing from the first-person viewpoint of a broken and dreaming drifter; and ``Dead Guy Story'' ruminates on life and death and the uncertainty of what lies in the road ahead. ``This album has an energetic feel to it, and that kind of thing always tends to be sort of influenced by who you're playing with,'' Lee said. ``With these songs, when we arranged them, we made them pretty barebones and cut out any unnecessary stuff. They're all pretty short for the most part -- 13 songs, but the record is only 40 minutes long. There's not a lot of fluff; the solos are more terse and to the point. ``In a lot of ways, the process was seamless. It was definitely sort of an experience with me making a record with a band, because I've not done that in a long, long time, and it's a completely different animal in that your collaborators treat it differently and you treat them differently.'' More than anything, ``Concrete Dog'' hums with Lee's love of songmaking, period. And if that's not enough, casual fans have only to flip through the liner notes by various local acts to find Lee's name as a contributing musician. He does it to challenge himself, and because it's simply a way to take part in something he talks about with unbridled passion -- creating music. ``Every time you do something outside of your little comfort zone, you kind of have to stretch yourself,'' he said. ``You have to kind of work within somebody else's boundaries, and for me, I always learn something new every time I do that. Working in my comfort zone, I tend to fall back on what I normally do, and I do that without a lot of effort. If I'm playing for somebody else and doing somebody else's stuff and really stretching myself, I find out I can do more than I think I can. ``It makes you be more open-minded, and when you come back to your own stuff, you're naturally going to be more affected by that in a positive manner.'' |