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| Warren Haynes, Jimmy Herring join Lee Boys on 'Testify' Lee Boys, one of America's finest "sacred steel" ensembles, will release their third studio effort, Testify, on October 23, 2012, on the Evil Teen, a record label co-owned by Warren Haynes (Gov't Mule, Allman Bros. Band). This family group consists of three brothers, Alvin Lee (guitar), Derrick Lee and Keith Lee (vocals) along with their three nephews, Roosevelt Collier (pedal steel guitar), Alvin Cordy Jr. (7-string bass) and Earl Walker (drums). "Sacred steel" is a type of music rooted in Gospel, but infused with rhythm and blues, jazz, rock, funk, hip-hop, country and African music driven by the pedal steel guitar. In the last five years, Lee Boys has for more than 750, 000 music fans at festivals throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. Their unique sound has attracted musical artists such as Allman Bros. Band, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Robert Plant, Robert Randolph, Derek Trucks, Mavis Staples, Gov't Mule, Blind Boys of Alabama, Black Crowes, John Legend and The Roots – all of whom have performed with the Lee Boys and/or invited them to tour with them. Heralded pedal steel guitarist Roosevelt Collier is often seen performing with multiple bands over the course of any given festival. In December of 2008, following a blazing performance at that year's Bonnaroo, Lee Boys debuted on national television with a rousing performance on NBC's Late Night With Conan O'Brien that had the host jumping out of his chair and raving about the band. The band has also been the subject of a Florida PBS documentary. Testify features 11 tracks of new songs along with fan favorites from their live show! Stellar production, expanded instrumentation, and a slew of special guests result in a captivating mix of gospel, rock and R&B that will surely appeal to the most discerning music fan. Guest players include: Warren Haynes on vocals and lead guitar; Jimmy Herring on lead guitar; female vocalist Gia Wyre; Matt Slocum on organ, piano, and keyboards; Nate Worth on percussion; and producer/engineer/mixer Matt Grondin on electric and acoustic guitar, keyboards, backing vocals. Horns were arranged by Mark Mullins. Testify was recorded primarily at Dockside Studio in Maurice, LA, with additional recording at The Music Shed, City of Progress, Carriage House Studios, Tree Sound Studios, Rastrophonics Studios, and The Parlor Recording Studio. In their family tradition of keeping the road hot, Lee Boys will tour extensively behind the new release. The itinerary is as follows: Sept 14 Taos Center for the Arts Taos, NM Sept 15 Telluride Blues Festival Telluride, CO Sept 28 Blue Nile New Orleans, LA Sept 29 Fiesta Seafood Festival Pensacola, FL Oct 4 Albino Skunk Festival Greer, SC Oct 6 Roswell Concert Series Roswell, GA Oct 19 Funky Biscuit Baton Raton, FL Oct 20-21 Magnolia Music Festival Live Oak, FL Jan 20-27 Legendary Blues Cruise Ft Lauderdale, FL Evil Teen is based in New York City and distributed by RED. Evil Teen co-owners Haynes and Stefani Scamardo are long-time fans of Lee Boys. They have shown their support of the band in a very concrete way by signing them to the label and by having the band often go out as support for Gov't Mule. Haynes comments, "Lee Boys is high energy Gospel infused jamming. This is the real thing!" write your comments about the article :: © 2012 Jazz News :: home page |