A heartfelt and soulful style

Over the course of more than a dozen years and six studio albums, Amos Lee has continued to evolve, develop, and challenge himself as a musician. With his most recent album, Spirit, he’s made his biggest creative leap yet.

Most notably, for the first time, Lee acted as his own producer. While his previous two albums bore the stamp of strong producers — Joey Burns of Calexico on 2011’s Mission Bell album and Jay Joyce (Little Big Town, Eric Church, Cage the Elephant) on 2013’s Mountains of Sorrow, Rivers of Song — Lee finally felt ready to take over the helm.

“I’ve been wanting to produce my own record for a long time,” Lee says, explaining that he met with numerous candidates before concluding that he should make the move. “What I wanted to provide was a place for musicians to come and feel they were able to express themselves and contribute in their own voice the way I was able to contribute in mine.”

Lee’s sense of ambition for Spirit largely derived from his own live performing experiences in recent years.

“Working with folks like the L.A. Philharmonic and the Mobile, Alabama Community Gospel Choir opened my mind to the possibility of pushing the edges of arrangement away from solitary moments into more collaborative, community experiences,” Lee says. “These were transformative creative opportunities that I never dreamed I would have. To stand on stage and be equal parts participant and observer during these career-defining  moments was such a thrill, and I credit the singers, arrangers, and conductors for being so open and generous to the songs.”