Sometime this fall, in a distinctly American ritual that goes back generations known informally as “following your dreams,” A.J. Lee will pack up her mandolin and her other belongings and move body and soul to Nashville.
It’s a move that should surprise no one who has ever heard the 19-year-old Santa Cruzan sing, either on YouTube or live with her bluegrass band Blue Summit or her longtime collaborators the Tuttles. She combines an inborn musical talent with an easy familiarity on stage and a spirit that can recognize and express the heartache and longing that makes country and bluegrass irresistible — or, as the Nashville guys with gold-plated record albums hanging on their walls might say, she’s got star power.
Lee has no bigger fan than fellow country singer Betsy Riger, who also happens to be her mom. When asked about whatever magical element that accounts for her daughter’s supernatural talents, Riger tells the story of a nationally televised NASCAR race at which young A.J. (birth name: Aissa Joelle) was asked to sing the national anthem. In the middle of the anthem, her microphone died, yet she kept on singing even as she was being passed a new mic, literally without missing a beat. At the time, she was 10 years old.
“Whatever that is,” said her mother, “she’s got it. And you can’t teach that.”
Lee moved to Santa Cruz from her hometown of Tracy to be with her band Blue Summit, having won the title of Best Female Vocalist from the Northern California Bluegrass Society seven times (Did we mention she was just 19?). She and her bandmates have been traveling to bluegrass festivals and other high-profile gigs ever since — last month, she was thrilled to perform on the California Bluegrass Association’s float at the San Francisco Pride Parade. She’s also just released a new six-song EP, and is set to release another recording this summer with Blue Summit.
There is a patina of destiny to Lee’s story. She comes from a family of musicians; her maternal grandfather was an accomplished jazz piano player who instilled in all his children, including A.J.’s mom, an abiding love for making music. “When I was little,” said Lee, “my mom was involved in some country bands, and she taught me to sing at a young age.”
As a toddler in a car seat, she and her mom would pass the time commuting by singing and playing “find this note,” and by the age of 4, she was performing for audiences on stage. Outside her family, she also grew up among a strong community of musicians throughout Northern California and was already a seasoned performer before she hit her late teens. Still, she never stopped working to improve her skills, particularly as an instrumentalist.
“Going from 5 to 19, I have to work a little bit harder to get people’s attention,” she said. “It probably has something to do with losing the cute factor.”
She goes to Nashville already knowing some well-connected musicians and with the best wishes of the Northern California bluegrass community behind her. Besides singing and playing mandolin and guitar, she is now developing her songwriting skills and plans to emerge as an Americana-style artist.
“I refuse to be another Taylor Swift, writing about break-ups or to be one of those girl-with-guitar stereotypes,” she said, adding that she’ll never quite shake the lure of bluegrass. “Traditionally, bluegrass has been about murder ballads and cheating on your wife or your husband, or something like that. But still there’s always a happy vibe about it.”
A.J. Lee
Home: Santa Cruz (soon to be Nashville)
Occupation: Country/bluegrass singer, songwriter and musician with the Santa Cruz band Blue Summit. She has two solo recordings out, “A Song for Noah” and “A.J. Lee.”
Originally from: Tracy.
Family: Her maternal grandfather was a classically-trained barrelhouse stride pianist. Her uncle is also a jazz pianist, and her mother, Betsy Riger Lee, has been a country performer and teacher for many years.
‘Wait for me!’: A.J. is the youngest of the five children of Rodney and Betsy Lee, by a lot. She is, said her mother, 16 years younger than her next youngest sibling. “She came 16 years after I was done having children,” said her mother. “It was almost as if she were saying, ‘Wait, the bus can’t go without me!’”
Music influence: Though she is devout in her love of bluegrass, she admits that she doesn’t do deep dives into the music of the genre’s acknowledged pioneer Bill Monroe. As a product of California, Lee’s sound is more akin to Gillian Welch, Laurie Lewis and Kate Wolf, whose songs she performs quite often. She says she listens actively to a wide variety of music from blues to pop to swing to gospel and points to the family bluegrass group The Issacs as a particular favorite.
Details: www.aissalee.com.
