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Known for his lightning-speed steel playing, Roosevelt Collier was a Guitar Center King of the Blues finalist in 2009.

“Come on, man—I was freakedout,” says pedal-steel guru Roosevelt Collier of “hard rock gospel” band the Lee Boys. “I was, like, ‘JohnScofield just left his coffee cup on my table. Nobody better touch it!’” Such are the pleasures of life when the incredible players from the sacred-steel circuit step beyond hallowed halls and into the gentile world. “I had the pleasure of him coming in my room for about an hour and talking about my background. We played together and, dude—it was sick.”

Lee Boys consists exclusively of family members: brothers Alvin (guitar), Derrick, and Keith Lee (vocals), and their nephews Alvin Cordy Jr. (bass), Earl Walker (drums), and Collier (pedal steel guitar). From about age 7, they all learned to play multiple instruments and grew up performing sacred-steel music at the House of God Church in Perrine, Florida. In 2000, they lost two family members who were significant musical influences—Reverend Robert E. Lee and Glenn Lee—and from that point, they decided to move beyond the walls of the church. “The torch was passed on,” Collier says. “That was my cue and signal that it’s time for me to take this to awhole ’nother level. Everybody felt the same way, and that’s when we went full-fledged onto the scene.”

In 2003, the Lee Boys had their first big tour playing the Blues to Bop Festival in France and Switzerland. “We were fresh on the scene, and we went overseas first. That was really big for us—I was nervous, nervous as dirt,”Collier recalls. “But the crowd went crazy. They were up dancing and praising.” By that time, other sacred-steel acts like Robert Randolph and the Campbell Brothers had already made their mark, but the Lee Boys hit the festival circuit with a vengeance and quickly developed a reputation for their frenetic shows. In 2008, after performing at Bonnaroo, the band debuted on national TV with a killer performance on Conan O’Brien. “That year was a turning point for us,”Alvin says.

Alvin Lee (left) and Roosevelt Collier (right) jam with Warren Haynes on his Man in Motion tour at Atlanta’s Tabernacle in 2011. Photo by Lisa Keel/peachtreeimages.com

Not surprisingly, the Lee Boys’ high-energy, improv-laden live shows have made them a favorite of the jam-band scene, too. In addition to trading licks with Sco, they’ve shared the stage with some of that genre’s brightest stars including Victor Wooten, Soulive’s Eric Krasno, and Warren Haynes. The latter, in particular, was instrumental in getting the band into the spotlight. “He let us jam on his sets with Gov’t Mule, gave us an opportunity to play with the Allman Brothers Band, and also let us open up for his band,” notes Alvin.

Haynes also signed the Lee Boys to Evil Teen, a label he co-owns, and made a guest appearance on Testify, the band’s latest release. Virtuoso guitarist Jimmy Herring was also enlisted to play on a few tracks and turned up the heat with his finger-twisting lines. “There’s a saying that if you want to be good, play with people that are better than you,” says Collier.“To play with Jimmy on the same tracks—that upped my game. Because of the stuff that Jimmy was laying down, I had to almost prove myself, you know? I had to play my heart out.” Collier is referring to tracks like “Always by My Side”and the title track “Testify,”which showcases an incendiary display of friendly fire, with Herring’s country-fied lines answered by Collier’s chromatically ascending patterns.

“I was born with this gift of playing the steel, but it was up to me to take that gift and grow with it,” says Collier. “I used to go off a thousand miles a minute—on each song, each solo was a thousand miles a minute. I got the reputation for being fast, like, ‘Man, this guy is lightning speed.’ But when a friend like Rick Lollar would come onstage, he’d play like eight notes and eat me alive. The crowd would go crazy, because he built his stuff. It’s all about building. Save your big guns for later on.”

The songwriting on Testifycomprises a unique mix of positive messages, catchy grooves, and sophisticated harmonies. Tracks like “Sinnerman”(which references Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish”) and “We Need to Hear from You” make use of unexpected modulations that would be equally at home on a Steely Dan cut. “Between jazz and funk, that’s where you’ll find me,” says Alvin.“If you listen to my chord progressions, you’ll hear a lot of jazz influences. A lot of the church musicians were big influences, but I also like guys like Victor Wooten, Stanley Clarke, and Jaco Pastorius—because I mainly played bass coming up. I also loved George Benson and Stanley Jordan.”

The Lee Boys don’t come from an academically jazz background per se, but they‘re always experimenting, taking lessons, and applying their knowledge of theory to different styles. “I have a lot of jazz influence because of these guys I’ve come across,” Collier says. “This scene outside of the church has been a big influence on me. I’ve learned a lot. With us intertwining that theory with our traditional sacred steel—plus all the different genres that we listen to—I think that formed the Lee Boys style.”

Because the band members were raised as multi-instrumentalists, they often switch instruments onstage, with Alvin switching to bass or pedal steel and Collier playing electric guitar or bass. For the most part though, Alvin is on guitar—the perfect foil for Collier’s overdriven steel explorations. “My main guitar is a Fender Strat with a Roland MIDI setup and a GR-33 guitar synth,” Alvin says. “I use a MIDI piano or organ sound to give it a full, gospel-spirit feel. More or less, Roosevelt is doing all the picking and I stay in the background and kind of form the body with chords. From my background as a bass player, I use medium picks because I like to hit the strings a little harder. I usually do licks with my rhythm patterns, so I need some resistance, but I don’t use heavy picks because I don’t solo that much.” While Lee and Collier are both proponents of the Boss GT-8 multi-effects unit, it’s a family feud when it comes to amps: Alvin favors a Fender Twin Reverb and Roland JC-120, while Collier vehemently disagrees.“No, no, no, no, dude. I don’t use Twin Reverbs—I can’t stand them,” he says.“Back at church, the only amp that we actually played out of was a Peavey Session 500, which is a solid-state amp. But I learned about amps, wattage, and tubes. Now, I really don’t like to use anything past a 50-watt amp, because I like to crank the bad boy up. Now I use a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, because it has a smooth overdrive channel. But my first-choice amp is an Egnater Renegade 112—that amp smokes. But a lot of your tone is your personal touch.”

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The Lee Boys are everywhere. Check out their most recent write up in Relix Magazine this month. Thanks to everyone for all of your support on their most recent album “Testify”.

Relix Magazine Article

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My beat in music consists of giving back the gift that I was given. I started in music at a very young age, learning first from family. My mom told me that she and my dad discovered I had a natural ability to keep a beat when I was six months old. As she tells it, she put on some music as she was getting ready to clean her room. So she could keep an eye on me, she sat me in the middle of her bed and put some of my favorite toys around me, including a Fisher-Price toy drum with mallets. As she was moving about the room, she thought she heard me keeping a beat to the music. Thinking it wasn’t so, she continued cleaning the room. When she heard it again, she said she stopped and immediately ran and got my dad. Needless to say, my parents were amazed when they realized what was going on. My mom says she recognized I was going to be a gifted percussionist right away. Whenever my mom tells me this story, I understand my passion to play the drums. I feel I have a beat in my heart and soul that has to come out.

Having the ability to play drums by ear opened many doors for me to show my talent. I started playing in church with my granddad and uncles. I would naturally create accompanying beats, or totally match the sound just by hearing it. My official training in middle- and high-school band gave me theoretical knowledge that added to my innate skills, which helped me become proficient in the art. But being on the road these last eleven years has been a lesson no schooling could have possibly given me.

I stay simple because I feel you don’t really need a lot to make a full sound. I really believe in a hard pocket. In church, I learned how strong drive and a hard pocket from a drummer makes a good song. You learn to step out only when necessary.

I like to work with a three-piece set. I have a 13″ snare, a 13″ tom, and a 16″ floor tom. I usually have a hi-hat, one crash, and one ride cymbal. I add another crash sometimes for an effect. I play with all Sabian cymbals.

I have played with a lot of different drummers in these past eleven or twelve years. Learning from cats like Dennis Chambers, Chris Dave, Derico Watson, Chris Fryar, Cody Dickinson, Terence Higgins, to name a few. But the greatest influence, from my start, comes from Benji Beckford, T. Cecil Austin, and my uncle Alvin Lee. I have been in the arena of some seasoned cats, opening for people like B.B. King, John Mayer, and the Roots, and being on stage with ABB, Jimmy Herring, and Victor Wooten.

The Lee Boys just finished its third studio album, Testify, and we’re currently on tour with Gov’t Mule for a few weeks. 2012 has been an awesome year for me—learning and growing into a better musician, and I highly anticipate it getting better.

http://www.moderndrummer.com/site/2012/12/kenneth-big-eazy-walker-lee-boys-drummer-blogs/#.UMeR247FUfE

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The Lee Boys will open for Leftover Salmon over New Year’s. The sacred steel group—who are touring in support of their new albumTestify—will open for Leftover Salmon over four nights in the Midwest. The run will kick off in Indianapolis, IN, move into St. Louis for two nights and come to a close with a New Year’s Eve celebration in Chicago.

Leftover Salmon will perform at Covington, K’s Madison Theater tomorrow while The Lee Boys will appear at Live Oak FL’s Magnolia Music Festival this weekend.

Here’s a look at The Lee Boys’ New Year’s dates with Leftover Salmon

December 27 Indianapolis, IN—The Vogue Theatre
December 28-29 St. Louis, MO—Old Rock House
December 31 Chicago, IL—The Vic Theatre

http://www.jambands.com/news/2012/10/15/the-lee-boys-will-spend-new-year-s-with-leftover-salmon

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Gov’t Mule closed their fall tour at Silver Spring, MD’s The Fillmore on Saturday night. Near the end of the group’s first set, area saxophonist and Warren Haynes Band member Ron Holloway stepped out to play on “I Believe To My Soul.” Harmonica player and longtime Gov’t Mule collaborator Hook Herrera then joined the members of Mule and Holloway for a set-closing “32/20 Blues.”

Herrera returned at the start of Gov’t Mule’s second set to assist on a cover of John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero.” A few songs later, Holloway returned for a cover of Traffic’s “Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys” and, during Gov’t Mule’s first encore segment, pedal steel player Roosevelt Collier from the evening’s opening act The Lee Boys sat in on Neil Young’s “Cortez The Killer.” Finally, Mule returned for a tour-closing second encore. Herrera helped the group kick things off with a take on “The Hunter” and remained onstage as the song segued into “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl.” At this point, Holloway joined Mule and Herrera onstage, and both guests then remained onstage as the number moved back into “The Hunter.”

Members of The Lee Boys joined Gov’t Mule onstage on Friday night, too. During their encore at Columbus, OH’s LC Pavilion, Collier, Lee Boys bassist Alvin Cordy Jr. and Lee Boys vocalist Derrick Lee joined Gov’t Mule’s Warren Haynes, Matt Abts and Danny Louis onstage for “Soulshine.” To close the night, Gov’t Mule returned for a second encore segment featuring Collier and area guitarist John Boerst on “Ventilator Blues.”

Gov’t Mule will kick off their New Year’s run at Upper Darby, PA’s Tower Theater on December 28.

http://www.jambands.com/news/2012/11/05/gov-t-mule-close-fall-tour-with-special-guests

Photo by: Stuart Dahne

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