Amos Lee

Mission Bell (Blue Note)

By Jonathan Shipley
Published: January 24th, 2011 | 7:00am

The first track off of Amos Lee’s stellar fourth album, Mission Bell, sounds like it could be used for a thoughtful Chevy commercial. You know the type—the one in which a truck has loads of hay in its bed and is driving through a gorgeous rural landscape; the one where a car is driving down a small town’s main street, American flags aflutter on store keeps’ stoops; the one where a reliable car is driving, reliably, by joyful teenagers going to their school dance. All this is to say the song “El Camino” is like the album as a whole—authentic, solidly built, and beautiful.

Lee, a native of Philadelphia, is a former elementary school teacher who, in college, picked up a guitar and a penchant to listen to jazz greats like Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis. While teaching himself guitar, he began to infuse that love of jazz with his own folk and R&B sensibilities. Soon, he caught the ear of Norah Jones and his debut album was released in 2005. Each album since, his last being 2008’s Last Days at the Lodge, has solidified him as a musician with vision and voice.

Having toured with the likes of Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, John Prine, and the Dave Matthews Band, Lee is like a Philly-born Jack Johnson or, perhaps, a male Mary Chapin Carpenter. The new album includes folks like Willie Nelson, Lucinda Williams, and Sam Beam (Iron & Wine). It’s folks like that that raises the caliber of folk music on Lee’s latest creation, not that he needs the help.

“Out in the Cold” starts with simple guitar plucks and Lee’s mournful voice before developing into a cool tune full of melancholy. “Jesus” has a marimba, handclaps, and electric guitars giving it a swamp-rat feel, while “Windows Are Rolled Down” is a buoyant ditty. Each song is distinct and can stand on its own, not simply a mish mash of folk song upon folk song with the same feelings, rhythms, and instrumentations that can befall many a folk album. No, Lee’s latest rolls down the road of folky goodness. It’s destination? Creating an album better than the one that preceded it. Mission (bell) succeeded.

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Amos Lee official site

Amos Lee MySpace page

Blue Note Records