According to Bob Dylan,
Frankie Lee and Judas Priest were the best of friends. But the artist
behind American Dreamer has nothing other than a name-check in
Dylan’s 1968 number one in common with the seminal heavy metallers
from Birmingham. In fact, it’s the decade-spanning troubadour
himself who has clearly had the most profound impact on the soulful
Mississippian’s sound – you can’t really miss it.
But let’s not be
unfair – pretty much anyone with a guitar and a voice is influenced
by Dylan, and Lee’s life story couldn’t be much more authentic.
Born in Mississippi, raised in Minneapolis, Lee developed and kicked
a drug habit which started with medication prescribed for narcolepsy;
more recently, he has been working on a hog farm in rural Minnesota
to get the songs together for his debut album.
And they’re strong
songs, very difficult to dislike and bathing for the most part in a
languid, laid-back Americana with heartfelt lyrics delivered by Lee’s
honeyed-sandpaper vocal chords. The general pace is gentle, from the
sunset folk of ‘Queen of Carolina’ – complete with harmonica
solo – to the nightcap blues of ‘Horses’, and the mood is
unchallenging and familiar. That will be comfortable for some, but is
very much like reading the same book cover to cover two hundred
times, or a solid sequel to your favourite film; pre-disposed to like
it, you will have no problems getting on with it, but it’s not
going to take you outside of yourself or carry you anywhere you
haven’t been before.
The faster pace of
‘Where Do We Belong’ injects a refreshing indie urgency and
‘Buffalo’ bustles across the Deep South treading cowboy paths
past the ranches, but the standout track is right at the start. The
wonderful ‘High and Dry’ balances the best moments from elsewhere
on the album into something which fits into the canon which
inspired it, rather than sitting next to it looking in. At the other
end, the title track closes the album with a wistful slice of
piano-led balladry which leaves the record with the line “I was
thinking that the world was gonna change” – this is not the album
to make that change, but as a soundtrack to sitting back, whisky in
hand, and watching other people do it it is more than satisfactory.
Words - Joe Ponting
Frankie Lee official
American Dreamer is out now via Loose