Lee Rodgers Trio will be riding around on the mobile 420 stage, and he has three sets over the weekend.
(The Wanee pre-party starts in the afternoon on Wednesday, April 17, and the full-on fest is Thursday-Sunday.)
Rodgers is a power rock and roll guitarist who has a degree in classical and jazz guitar. He was a jazz professor at the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston when he was just 23.
Rodgers is a power rock and roll guitarist who has a degree in classical and jazz guitar. He was a jazz professor at the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston when he was just 23.
As a member of the Codetalkers with Colonel Bruce Hampton from 1999 to 2006, he consistently delivered jaw-dropping performances.
These days, he has a regular gig in Hollywood, Florida, playing tributes to jazz greats like Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock, John Coltraine, Charlie Parker, and Horace Silver. On the other hand, he composes and plays Southern rock and jam band tunes.
Rodgers played his first solo performance at Wanee in 2009. This year, the Bobby Lee Rodgers Trio will be playing mostly rock and roll, with Rodgers on the electric banjo and guitar. He gets a unique sound using a 1960s super reverb and a Leslie organ speaker.
Festgrrl caught up with Rodgers recently, as he was putting the finishing touches on his new release, Firefly.
So you’ve been in the studio working on a new release?
I literally got finished with it a second ago. I’m playing electric banjo – I haven’t played it since the Codetalkers. I also play my old 1948 Martin V18, and I play the same banjo my dad got me when I was young. I also play a little drums and a little bass on it.
Besides your trio sets at Wanee, you have any sit-ins planned?
I’m going to be sitting in with people and having a couple of people play with me also. I never know what I’m going to play until I get there, but I know it’ll rock!
When did you first start playing guitar?
I didn’t start playing guitar until I was about 14. My first instrument was upright bass. I played in the fifth grade in Stone Mountain, Georgia in the orchestra. I didn’t know back then what you could do with a bass.
I practiced hard. I played some Bach and the cello suites. I played drums for a couple of years. I played traditional banjo when I was a kid. I wanted a guitar but my dad got me a banjo. He wanted me to play banjo. I wasn’t really that interested in it.
We put a rock band together in high school. Our high school band director heard us play rock and roll and he said ‘You’re in the jazz band now!’ He wanted us for his rhythm section. Our jazz band was one of the best in the nation. He was pushing us. He was getting us to learn how to listen. He’d help us understand that music is a language; it’s not just about a certain lick. All music is a question and an answer.
I just started loving jazz guitar. When I graduated from high school I didn’t really have anybody to study with. I’d go to the record stores and try to find jazz albums to learn from. It was so hard to get the kind of jazz I wanted to learn in a record store, it was all geared to commercial things. I got a scholarship to play in the jazz band at the University of Georgia. I studied classical guitar – Bach Villalobos, Segovia…all that.
I am among the many people who just love your song “Outer Space.” I know the Tampa jam band Cope covers it also. Can you tell us a little about writing it?
I was driving from Atlanta towards Savannah on Highway 16 and I saw a major weird-looking light I’ve never seen in my entire life, ever. It shocked me.
I started writing this tune and I was thinking: If I were from outer space, what would I be thinking? People of the Earth, they need to get along and they need to stop mandating things and justifying things. If we could just wake up for a second. Man, people need to listen to people, you know?
Rodgers played his first solo performance at Wanee in 2009. This year, the Bobby Lee Rodgers Trio will be playing mostly rock and roll, with Rodgers on the electric banjo and guitar. He gets a unique sound using a 1960s super reverb and a Leslie organ speaker.
Festgrrl caught up with Rodgers recently, as he was putting the finishing touches on his new release, Firefly.
So you’ve been in the studio working on a new release?
I literally got finished with it a second ago. I’m playing electric banjo – I haven’t played it since the Codetalkers. I also play my old 1948 Martin V18, and I play the same banjo my dad got me when I was young. I also play a little drums and a little bass on it.
Besides your trio sets at Wanee, you have any sit-ins planned?
I’m going to be sitting in with people and having a couple of people play with me also. I never know what I’m going to play until I get there, but I know it’ll rock!
When did you first start playing guitar?
I didn’t start playing guitar until I was about 14. My first instrument was upright bass. I played in the fifth grade in Stone Mountain, Georgia in the orchestra. I didn’t know back then what you could do with a bass.
I practiced hard. I played some Bach and the cello suites. I played drums for a couple of years. I played traditional banjo when I was a kid. I wanted a guitar but my dad got me a banjo. He wanted me to play banjo. I wasn’t really that interested in it.
We put a rock band together in high school. Our high school band director heard us play rock and roll and he said ‘You’re in the jazz band now!’ He wanted us for his rhythm section. Our jazz band was one of the best in the nation. He was pushing us. He was getting us to learn how to listen. He’d help us understand that music is a language; it’s not just about a certain lick. All music is a question and an answer.
I just started loving jazz guitar. When I graduated from high school I didn’t really have anybody to study with. I’d go to the record stores and try to find jazz albums to learn from. It was so hard to get the kind of jazz I wanted to learn in a record store, it was all geared to commercial things. I got a scholarship to play in the jazz band at the University of Georgia. I studied classical guitar – Bach Villalobos, Segovia…all that.
I am among the many people who just love your song “Outer Space.” I know the Tampa jam band Cope covers it also. Can you tell us a little about writing it?
I was driving from Atlanta towards Savannah on Highway 16 and I saw a major weird-looking light I’ve never seen in my entire life, ever. It shocked me.
I started writing this tune and I was thinking: If I were from outer space, what would I be thinking? People of the Earth, they need to get along and they need to stop mandating things and justifying things. If we could just wake up for a second. Man, people need to listen to people, you know?
Listen to Bobby Lee Rodgers at Wanee: He plays 3:30-5 Thursday on the Mushroom Stage, and he holds down the 11:30 a.m. -12 p.m. slot both Friday and Saturday on the Peach Stage
And here's that song, Outer Space:
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