Mellow bluesman on his way

Amos Lee

Philadelphian singer-songwriter Amos Lee is backstage in Seattle preparing to open for Bob Dylan and Merle Haggard, a tour he's on until late April.

The previous night, after doing his set he headed across town to a small club to play a show under his own name. That's the kind of venue he made his name in before Eli Wolf of Blue Note Records heard a demo of his songs early last year and caught some of Lee's shows. Wolf liked Lee's soulful bluesy sound which has been likened to that of Bill Withers, Joan Armatrading, John Prine and James Taylor. Lee signed to Blue Note, better known as a jazz label but also home to Norah Jones, who plays Auckland's Aotea Centre on Saturday.

With Jones' bassist/partner Lee Alexander producing, Lee recorded his own self-titled debut. Released only at the beginning of this month, it is already pulling five-star reviews in the United States. Its mellow acoustic sound - with accompaniment from Jones and members of her band - sits as well alongside Jack Johnson and Donavon Frankenreiter as it does beside Jones' two albums.

The quietly spoken, 27-year old former school teacher is on his way.

I suppose after opening for Dylan and Norah last year you must be getting used to big audiences.

Yeah, but I try to approach most shows with the same mentality. The only thing with a club crowd like last night is people - they are chilled out and drinking and partying real hard. But I feel fortunate to be in front of any crowd to be honest. Playing music is a tough racket.

There seemed a remarkably short time between playing clubs and being signed to Blue Note.

Yeah, I was playing half-hour or hour-long sets in small clubs in Philly once or twice a week and then playing Boston and New York when I could. My manager sent Eli a demo and he liked it. It took them a while. They saw a few months' worth of shows before they decided to pull the trigger.

You were courted by other labels?

Universal was interested but I decided not to go with them; just a choice. Record companies are for the most part pretty difficult, but Blue Note is good because of people like Eli and Bruce Lundvall who are believers in the music. In the end it was more like not wanting to conform to someone else's vision, but of what I needed to be.

You worked with quite a big band at one point. When it came to the album were you mindful that you wanted to keep a consistency of tone throughout?

Definitely. I'd been playing a lot of shows - just me and my guitar the previous year - and I would have people come up and say while they liked the crazy stuff they preferred the shows like that which were live and real. That's what my vision for the record was.

Did you meet Lee Alexander when you were on the Norah Jones tour?

No, my manager set up a meeting. My manager said, "Why don't you just talk to Lee? He's a smart guy", and that was it. I don't recall whether I was touring with them at that point; last year was pretty much a blur.

Has it been too fast?

It's a strange thing. The past year has been a whirlwind as far as touring is concerned, but building a career takes a long time. But I'm enjoying it for the most part.

You don't have a home base any more - have you adapted to the touring life?

It depends on the day. Today's not a bad day.

Album

* Who: American singer-songwriter Amos Lee

* What: Self-titled debut album out now

* Trivia: Lee is signed to the same label as Norah Jones, has opened for Norah Jones on tour, his debut album was produced by Norah's Jones' partner Lee Alexander, and Norah Jones appears on it. Inevitably some writers have unthinkingly called him the male Norah Jones.