Over the many decades that Albert Lee has been strapping on an axe, he has earned the nickname Mr. Telecaster, a persona he’ll bring to My Father’s Place.
As one of England’s pre-eminent country-rock guitarists, Lee has been plugging in with his trusty Fender while being a member of Emmylou Harris’ Hot Band, done a five-year stint as a sideman for Eric Clapton and served as a musical director for more than 20 years with his heroes, The Everly Brothers.
While most octogenarians would be perfectly content kicking back in retirement and talking about the glory days, this affable Brit is instead out on the road promoting his most recent studio outing, 2024’s “Lay It Down.”
And while this session yielded a beautifully played collection of varied covers of Lee’s heroes, including The Everly Brothers, Bobby Darin, and the Flying Burrito Brothers, he’ll be the first to say he’d rather be playing live, even while grappling with certain age-related issues.
“The guy who books me in England said we needed new music for the next tour,” Lee explained. “I have to be forced to do these things. It’s been a bit of a struggle for me because, not having played before heading out on this tour, I lost the calluses on my fingers. I’m 82 now, so the skin gets kind of thin in your eighties. It’s taken a while to build them up.”
Calluses or not, Lee’s two days in the studio found him digging deep into a lot of in-concert favorites. Highlights range from “Setting Me Up,” a rollicking reading of a Dire Straits gem that originally came out on the band’s 1978 self-titled debut and a countrypolitan-kissed walk through the Chris Hillman/Gram Parsons classic “Wheels” to a sweeping cover of Jimmy Webb’s “To Young to Die.”
Lee’s unusual career path started as a young boy whose heroes were a number of early ‘50s pop stars, including Johnnie Ray, Doris Day, and Guy Mitchell.
But it took skiffle icon Lonnie Donegan and his driving interpretations of Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly songs to inspire the aspiring musician to pick up a guitar. By 1960, Lee was playing on his first tour. But it would be country picker Jimmy Bryant and legendary fret-man James Burton that would spark the nascent guitarist to begin a lifelong love affair with the Telecaster.
“Jimmy Bryant had a crazy swing/country style and I could tell he was playing a Telecaster,” Lee recalled. “Around that time, I’d become a huge fan of James Burton with Ricky Nelson and James was playing a Telecaster too. By 1963, I found a second-hand Telecaster and that changed my life completely.”
By the late ‘60s, Lee went from being the lead guitarist for Chris Farlowe’s more early rock and roll-influenced Thunderbirds to playing country music at U.S. Army and Air Force bases around the UK.
At the same time, he saw the six-string trinity of Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck blowing up commercially. And while Lee was having second thoughts about continuing down this particular country music path, he was asked to join Head Hands & Feet, a British outfit considered to be Britain’s answer to the Flying Burrito Brothers.
Lee’s reputation in Head Hands & Feet served him well. Not only did he wind up resettling in Southern California once the band broke up, but his new surroundings also provided him with opportunities to connect with future employers, such as The Everly Brothers and Emmylou Harris. Ironically, his opportunity with the latter found him replacing his hero Burton, who was leaving to play with Elvis Presley.
“The real turning point for me when I went to see Emmylou play this one gig down in Laguna Hills by the beach around ’74 or ’75,” Lee said. “She asked what I was doing for the next couple of weeks and said, ‘Albert, we need you,’ because James was off to play with Elvis.”
Fast forward to the present and Lee has no intention of slowing down, calluses or lack thereof be damned. It goes well with his mindset of using it so as not to lose it.
“I’m 82 now, so I’m fortunate to still have the gigs out there,” he said. “It’s getting harder, but I’ll keep doing it. It’s like what I tell young musicians—don’t do all your practicing in your bedroom. Get out there and play with other musicians. That’s when you really learn something. It proved well for me.”
Albert Lee will be appearing on Jan. 10 at My Father’s Place at the Roslyn Hotel, 1221 Old Northern Blvd., Roslyn. For more information, visit www.myfathersplace.com or call 516-625-2700.
