the lee boys

the lee boys
Originally uploaded by rod lewis

This past week was a stressful one. A Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation visit had everyone on campus on our toes. Probably not as graceful or expressive as Molly is when she is on her toes, we all endured the mixed blessing of evaluation and assessment.
Often, at the end of stressful weeks, in our attempt to flush the stress, we send the whole week down the drain, but in doing so, also forget the good moments. This week had several wonderful moments as well.
On Thursday afternoon, after teaching until 12:50, I returned to my office for a few quiet moments before my 1:25. Almost immediately, one of my students knocked on my door to take me down to the student center to hear a band who were playing unplugged from a couch by the television. The band turned out to be Needtobreathe, and we were treated with awesome acoustic versions of some great songs.
Then on Friday evening I was rushing home to kiss Allison before she and Molly drove off to Charlotte and left the boys and me to fend for our own happiness. I got a phone call from a friend of a friend from Florida who told me that he was in town with a band from Miami that were playing downtown. So I got home, kissed Allison and bid her farewell, rested for a while and the boys and I drove downtown at 10:00pm to meet a new friend and hear some tunes.
Hear some tunes??????
That doesn’t come close.
The band was The Lee Boys, a sacred steel family outfit. This is was another one of those nights when I couldn’t get the smile off my face. The band quit playing at 1:30am, and Jack, Will, and I walked out into a momentary lull in the torrential storms to dodge the raindrops on our way home, exhausted, satisfied, and somewhat stunned at what we’d just experienced.
What we’d experienced was 2 and half hours of non-stop virtuosic energy. We heard intensely tight jams that seemed to go on forever, but never without direction. The steel guitar player was unbelievable, the bass, groovy as they come, the rhythm guitarist (and patriarch) dripped style, and if the drummer was one degree cooler, it would have started snowing. All the coolness on the stage, however, in no way cooled the warmth that emanated from the stage midst all that energy. I’m tellin’ ya kids. These guys were amazing.
If the Lee Boys come within 4 hours of you, you’d be foolish not to hear them live.
Consider yourselves warned.