Stuck inside of Knoxville
On a recent evening, I saw the Tim Lee Three with opener Kevin Abernathy at the Pilot Light, located on Jackson Avenue in the Old City. I got to hang out a bit with Tim and his wife Susan, Kevin and Greg Horne, another excellent local musician, who sat in that night. Among other things, I learned that Kevin and his wife operate a kennel in south Knox County. They were all kind enough to put up with me while we waited for the show to begin.
Sometime after 9:30 Kevin took the stage and was as good as always, but with a twist: he played solo acoustic. I’d only heard him with his band and, as you might expect, his acoustic slot really highlighted the songs and the songwriting and I realized both were excellent. His guitar work is always going to be good, but maybe some of these songs get buried behind the band and might benefit from this sort of treatment more often.
As his set wound down he invited Greg Horne to sing harmony on a song and he added his great vocal touch. Greg seems to be the guy that all the guys want to sing with. He’s also an excellent musician and songwriter, of course. Tim Lee joined in, also, and the three of them finished Kevin’s set in great style.
Once Susan and Bill Van Vleet joined Tim on stage, the music turned to serious blues-based rock and roll – with a little punk element, I think, but they might disagree. The thing that rings true through every song is that this is a band with real soul. This is no manufactured, auto-tuned sterile money machine, this is a collection of people who want to play honest rock and roll and they know how to do it.
A highlight for me was a slow blues jam that I just could not get enough of. The next day, with my Ipod on shuffle-play, I heard a song from Led Zepplin II and realized what it reminded me of: Tim was channeling Jimi Page. That might sound impossible if you haven’t heard Tim play. I’m telling you, I’ve heard Jimmy Page live and while I’m not saying Tim is as good as Jimmy Page, and I’m not sure anybody is, I am saying Tim has the chops to bring Jimmy to mind.
Kevin, Tim and Susan, and Greg are all excellent musicians worth tracking down if you get a chance and the Pilot light is a fun place for rocking out. Knoxville has far more than its share of excellent musicians and I’d really encourage you to head downtown and give some of them a listen.
