Local Album Review

Tim Lee Concrete Dog (Fundamental Music)

Proving that 2006 is shaping into a banner year for the Knoxville music scene, former Windbreaker and Mississippi expatriate Tim Lee returns with his third solo effort, Concrete Dog (Fundamental Music). Delivering 13 lucky slices of jangly power-pop/rock, Lee updates the sonic formula he’s followed for the bulk of his career.  While the focus is, of course, on Mr. Lee, the album has more of a comfortable, full band feel.

Aided and abetted by partner Susan Bauer Lee on bass, guitarist Greg Horne, and drummer/producer extraordinaire, Don Coffey, Jr. on drums, Lee has created another musical masterpiece that ranks up there with the best works of Chris Stamey, Mitch Easter, and even Alex Chilton. Yes, it’s that good. So don’t let the earlier mention of power-pop, a pigeonhole that has proven to be a kiss of death for many excellent bands, throw you. Concrete Dog is comparable to Dwight Twilley and The Byrds, not The Knack.

The entirety of Concrete Dog has a southern feel to it that is anything but prefabricated. Lee is by no means reverberating the hackneyed “wild-eyed and southern-fried” clichés here, he’s just being himself, a southern gentleman. And this means that there’s just a refreshing hint of twang tossed into the mix from time to time.

Lee & Co. will celebrate the release of Concrete Dog on Friday, April 14, at Patrick Sullivan’s. This swank affair begins at 7 p.m. with free barbecue served on the back room patio. At 9 p.m., the soiree moves upstairs to the Great Room for a show that will be opened by Johnson City’s Rob Russell & The Sore Losers.

--John Sewell