The Guardian have reviewed AF Fellow Sam Lee‘s warm up for his October-November national tour!
“Tonight, Lee delivers his songs with a terrific band comprising piano (James Kay), violin (Joseph O’Keeffe), double bass (Misha Mullov-Abbado) and percussion (Josh Green); Lee’s shruti box is called into service. These arrangements are spectacularly nuanced, somewhere between contemporary classical and jazz, with the fiddle melody the most obvious anchor in tradition. A recent parallel might be the US singer-songwriter Bill Callahan – a folk-adjacent voice counterpointed by susurrations and thrums. At one point, during Worthy Wood, Green percusses the violin’s strings with what look like chopsticks. This magical night’s binding spells are, however, nearly undone by the encore – a cheesy cover of Dream a Little Dream of Me.
Lee has a heel planted in the ash-worshipper enclave too, though. He’s barefoot at Saffron Hall, and is used to talking earnestly about his work. Having done time at Cecil Sharp House, the high temple of Trad Arr, this dedicated archivist has spent years tracking down revered singers from Traveller communities and learning their songs – often just before these first-hand links with the old, horse-drawn ways of life were severed when those singers passed on.”
Book tour tickets via Sam’s website, October 12 – November 26 2021