 & the Blind Doctors Terry Lee Hale * "Leaving West" * From the beginning, music has been a strong force in the life of Texas-born singer-songwriter TERRY LEE HALE. He recalls watching his father on many a Friday night, "beer bottle at his side, listening and playing air drums to Fats Domino, Hank Williams, and Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys". Being an army family meant frequent moves and a "haphazard and disjointed" education for HALE. "I must' ve attended ten schools in 12 years. Friendships were few, but I developed an active imagination and a real ease with being alone". HALE played clarinet in school bands, developing an appreciation for the music of Debussy and Sousa. Among his pop music favorites were The Beatles and Duane Eddy, and he earned the money for his first guitar at age 15 picking fruit in the orchards around Yakima, Washington. After graduating from high school, HALE hitchhyked his way to the East Coast, stopping in Vermont, Boston and new Hampshire. While living on Cape Cod, he became familiar with the music of Rev. Gary Davis, a street singer-preacher. "As soon as I heard it, I knew that that was how I wanted a guitar to sound...", says HALE, "Full, powerful, and exciting". HALE traveled around the country, landing in Chicago, where he performed in small folk and blues clubs with romantic and musical partner Rebecca Sarow. Subsequent moves took the couple and daughter Liza to Texas, Michigan, Washington, and Denver. While working to perfect his guitar technique and songwriting skills, HALE continued to expand his range of influences, from the blues of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Tampa Red to the "outlaw" music of Texas : Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Jerry Jeff Walker. In 1984, after a frustrating year in L.A. ("nobody cared"), HALE decided to move to Seattle with daughter Liza in tow. "It was 1984, and Seattle was an easy choice - a place where perhaps I could combine all the different styles I'd been learning into one cohesive package". HALE tended bar at a serie of small clubs, supplementing his income by working as a booking agent, and formed a R&B band called The Ones. It was during this time that he met and formed lasting friendships with many of Seattle's great, unsung musical heroes, including The Walkabouts. The Ones released a self-produced LP cassette, then broke up in 1985 when Jack Endino left to form Skin Yard. Returning to his familiar solo act status, HALE continued to raise his daughter and work as a carpenter, playing music in the bars around Seattle at night. He released his first LP cassette in 1986, which was followed by others in 1988, '90 and '91. His third release, titled "Oh What A World", was picked up by the German record label Normal and was well received throughout Europe. His second CD, the "Frontier Model", was released in February '94 on Germany's Glitterhouse label, the company TERRY LEE now chooses to work with. He already has a big number of european tours under his belt (with The Walkabouts, with Sonya Hunter, as part of the "Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness" package and solo)... His third album, "Tornado Alley", was recorded at John Keane's studio in Athens, Georgia, and was released in February 95. And today, here is "LEAVING WEST", the new TERRY LEE HALE's opus ! A great and intense musical ride... 14 brand new traks of brilliant guitar playing and singing. Powerful stuff where HALE proves - one more time - that he is now an indispensable artist... * BIOGRAPHIE : INFLUENCES : 1953 : Naît à San Antonio, Texas. 1971 : Sort diplomé de la Davis High School, Yakima, WA. 1971 - 74 : Maine, Massachusets, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York 1975 : Chicago 1977 : Liza Lee Hale, ????, Austin, Texas 1976 - 1982 : Texas, Michigabn, Colorado, Washington, Colorado, California. 1984 : S'installe à Seattle, WA. 1993 : 1996 : Enregistre et sort le CD "Leaving West"
1993 : LP/CD Oh What A World 1994 : CD Frontier Model 1995 : CD Wilderness Years 1995 : CD Tornado Alley 1996 : CD Leaving West 1999 : CD Old Hand (with the Blind Doctors)   |
