Lee Rocker’s new album Gather Round was released on January 22, 2021. The name seems to be taken from the first line of the famous “protest song” of the main American minstrel. But the album is fun, positive and bright, it’s about the power of music and about love. It’s like a fuck to a bad time, cheekily shown from a car. You should take a piece of ham out of every piggish thing. The tour was cancelled or rescheduled. Well, if you lock a musician in four walls, he will certainly pick up an instrument and give something new. Lee didn’t sit still, climbed into a trailer with his wife and dog, and traveled across the United States: six weeks, 6,000 miles, 20 states. Quite in the tradition of the Beatniks.
This is the first album in 13 years with new original songs, the previous such release by Rocker Black Cat Bone was released in 2007. Most of these songs were composed on a journey. From California to New York, from New York to.. No, not to Mars, back to California. The demos were also recorded on the road.
Upon returning home, Lee started working on the CD. They recorded it with him.: Buzz Campbell (guitar, backing vocals), Larry Mitchell (drums, percussion), Matt Jordan (keyboards, organ) and Joey Eits (keyboards). They couldn’t all get together in the studio, everyone worked at home and sent their parts to the Rocker. With this approach, more time is spent on communication and you have to be as attentive as possible, but in any case, it worked – everything sounds like the guys are playing here and now in the same place. According to the Rocker himself, he gave his all 110%.
The album is considered a rockabilly genre, but the music is much broader – there are jump blues, swing, Americana, pop rock, eclecticism in a good sense of the word! As Lee Rocker himself says:
“Genre definitions won’t say much, for example, John Fogerty and Willie Nelson, they played rockabilly, but no one considers them rockabilly musicians!”
Gather Round – sets a life-affirming mood from the first chords, it’s a new rockabilly anthem. Get together not to overthrow the next government, but to “shake this town and rock this city.” Leon produced a powerful title track with rock and roll symbols and quotes from classics.
I’m the rockabilly man got a leopard wearing wife
The Airstream’s rocking cause we’re doing it right
Pink flamingos and blue suede shoes
Gonna hit the road and take a cruise
Graceland Auction is another fun song, the Rocker had a 2019 catalog from Graceland on his coffee table at home, so many years have passed, and everyone still wants a piece of the King. Leon himself also participated in a similar auction to purchase a Scotty Moore guitar.
Last Offline Lovers is dedicated to Deborah, Lee Rocker’s wife, they have been together for 32 years. One day, Lee bought a painting with that name, which prompted him to create a song. He played all the instruments except the drums himself. And all the instruments are acoustic.
Everybody Wants To Be A Cat is a jazz standard from the Disney animated film The Aristocrats (1970) by Floyd Huddleston & Al Rinker, which by the way can also be heard on the Stray Cats bootleg BBC Radio 1 Studios, London (1992).
Nothing’s Going Right was recorded for the Stray Cats 40 album in 2019, it didn’t turn out as intended, because Brian and Slim Jim brought their “catiness” to the song, and here Lee came closer to the original vision – the spark of the original fire of the song.
Pickin’ and Grinnin is a song about how he got fed up with the current political situation in the country, and although he himself is far from politics, he couldn’t help but speak out about it. Every Time I See You is a bouncy pop-rock. Dirty Martini is a cool instrument.
Doghouse Shuffle was written in 2019 after a summer tour with Stray Cats, this is a kind of musician’s story about himself. If we call the double bass a “big violin,” then they call it a “doghouse.”
Took me ’round the world and I changed my name
found a little fortune, found a little fame
Doin’ the dog house shuffle
The album ends with the song Ophelia by Robbie Robertson, which has already appeared with the Rocker on The Low Road (2018), and it sounds like it’s from a 1920s institution with Buzz Campbell’s banjo and Joey Eates’ honky tonk piano.
Lee Rocker has once again shown that he is a strong musician and a great frontman, delivering a powerful album with great sound and a variety of interesting songs. We can say right away that this is one of the best new albums of 2021! And the cover is from Vince Ray himself!
Live and learn forever. I didn’t even think that doghouse was a double bass.