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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tFort Worth’s Michael Lee looks every bit the North Texas old soul. His debut record with The Wartime Limousine arrives on Oct. 30. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tFort Worth’s Michael Lee looks every bit the North Texas old soul. His debut record with The Wartime Limousine arrives on Oct. 30. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Photo by William Neal<\/p>\n
As a teen in Bedford, Texas, Michael Lee<\/a> would slip out his bedroom window, push his car down the driveway in neutral to not wake his parents, then drive 45 minutes east to Harry Hines Boulevard in Dallas to catch live blues shows.<\/p>\n That kid grew up, but the obsession never loosened its grip. On Oct. 30, that love arrives fully formed as the self-titled debut from Michael Lee & The Wartime Limousine, a Fort Worth soul<\/a> and blues band that sounds like it wandered in from a warmer, richer decade and decided to stay there.<\/p>\n A young love<\/p>\n Most kids are introduced to music through cartoons and jingles. Michael met it through a toy guitar and grainy concert footage at age four. While his classmates were parked in front of \u201cSesame Street,\u201d he was studying live tapes with the focus of a grad student.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was so weird when you get to school and nobody else has heard of those people,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Sign up for the Music newsletter to get the latest stories delivered to your inbox<\/p>\n THANK YOU!<\/p>\n You’re all set.<\/p>\n CLOSE\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Robert Johnson, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Otis Redding, the whole Stax and Motown catalog absorbed through his grandparents\u2019 country records and his own relentless digging. He wasn\u2019t collecting influences for a cool r\u00e9sum\u00e9; he was simply enthralled.<\/p>\n \u201cI had to play music, man, I was obsessed,\u201d he says. \u201cLike, it was all I thought about all day, all through school, just nonstop.\u201d<\/p>\n The North Texas education earned after midnight<\/p>\n More than rebellion, those late-night runs to Dallas were tuition. Lee soaked up the scene at the Hole in the Wall on Harry Hines<\/a>, the blues jam at Nate\u2019s Seafood & Steakhouse, Fort Worth\u2019s J&J\u2019s Blues Bar and the Keys Lounge, and Spencer\u2019s Corner Bar. These were rooms where local giants like Lucky Peterson<\/a> held court and where a young player could stand close enough to pocket every trick worth knowing.<\/p>\n He learned showmanship the hard way from people who didn\u2019t hand out compliments lightly. One mentor, Joe Jonas (no, not that one), delivered a lesson Michael still repeats word for word: \u201cSon, when you play like that, all the men pay attention. You play nice and pretty, all the women pay attention. Now I\u2019m gonna count this back off and I want to know which one you want.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s the kind of schooling no conservatory offers. It taught intention. It taught that a note is a choice, not an accident.<\/p>\n The broader region became its own classroom, too. This is the same North Texas soil that produced Leon Bridges <\/a>and the Quaker City Nighthawks, that gave players like Josh Weathers<\/a> a stage to grow on. Michael credits that community with pointing him toward his truest self.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was just being around a group of folks that were passionate about music and what was true to them,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I think that really kind of shaped that direction.\u201d<\/p>\n In conversation with the greats<\/p>\n Now, all that late-night devotion has manifested as an album that is a debut on paper, but feels more like a rediscovered classic.<\/p>\n