Stub Lee on Becoming a Musician

First, I’m not not sure that you actually just “become” a musician.  You don’t look at the calendar and pick a date for it to happen. It just kind of happens.  It’s a progression from being a passive listener and fan of music to playing, singing, writing, and performing. 

 I’ve always loved music, listened, played and sang since I was a kid. Most of us had dreams of being a star and thought about what that would be like. The fame, the money, the girls.   Well, for some that works, for others (like me) it was only a dream that fell by the wayside. Maybe I didn’t want it bad enough, or maybe I felt I wasn’t good enough. Nobody’s fault but mine.

Stub Lee

“…since the pandemic, I’ve felt more creative and it felt like the right time to do this- to put myself out there.”

Now that I'm over fifty, I wanted to pursue music for other reasons. It’s a creative release, I have tunes and songs and feelings that are in my head that need to come out. I want to leave a legacy for my kids and grandkids. I want them to know another part of my story, my life. Maybe  I’ll have some influence on them to be creative.

Another reason I'm doing this late in the game of my life is that like most of us, nobody wants to be forgotten too soon. Pretty narcissistic I guess, but I just want to be relevant in later generations as well as today. 

My Mom wasn’t on the internet at all. My Dad was only in posts and pictures that my stepmom posted. Posting these videos and music will be a lengthy chronicle of who I was after I'm gone and hopefully it will be another way I’ll be remembered. Trust me, I’m not looking to go anytime soon, but it’s something that we all face and it’s pretty inevitable. 

When I built my first cigar box guitar and started playing, I felt like I found my voice, instrumentally.  I’ve played 6 string guitar for over thirty years, but since the pandemic, I’ve felt more creative and it felt like the right time to do this- to put myself out there.  My style is bluesy, primitive, and raw but i feel like I’m refining my craft a little as I go.

If you are thinking of getting into music I’ll say do it. Don’t worry about what anyone says or thinks. Put yourself out there and feel good that you’ve left something for others. You never know who will absolutely need your song to get themselves through a tough spot or just to relax and enjoy.

Stub Lee’s single, Dyin’ by the Bottle

This instrumental is an ambient blues track that was a one-take recording session that just kinda vibed with me and I kept tweaking the track until I was happy with it.  

It tells a story that takes you through the journey of someone struggling with alcoholism. There’s a point where you might think the bottle has taken another life, or you might consider that there were angels that have saved that person. It’s up to you how you interpret the song. 

Listen, follow the song, and let your imagination lead you.

I played the guitar part on an ‘18 Squier Bullet Telecaster that I modded with Tex-Mex pickups.  It’s a simple, cheap guitar that has a good feel to it and the notes were just there the day I recorded this track. 

The blues is a story…really it’s many stories. Some are the same story told by many different people and some are personal and unique to each person. I think this song is similar to that.

A video short of Dyin’ By the Bottle by Stub Lee.

Stub Lee on Samantha Fish

Samantha fish is definitely a strong player in the blues world but like everyone, she had to start out somewhere. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Fish started playing guitar and singing fairly early.

The first time I learned about her was her YouTube video of her playing Shake it On Down on a cigar box guitar. It had a great tone, and she played her version of the song with a steady groove and an awesome blues feel. 

Cigar Box Guitars are a thing? I wondered. I was hooked and thought that I’d like to build something like that.  Hers had that piece-it-together homemade look and isn't something that you run down to Guitar Center to pick up. That’s part of its charm.

She plays the hook of the song which carries the whole song. It’s a great look into modernizing an old-school song and making it more relevant to today’s audiences I think. That’s commendable. She’s taking a chance- but the blues nowadays is a smaller niche genre than it was many years ago. It’s cool to do something different and to throw your own spin onto the music you make and draw attention to this music.

She inspired me to build my own cigar box guitars (I’m up to 7 already).

I think that the fans are pretty hardcore and are open to blues history,  its unique power to tell a story that many understand because it’s relevant to them. Everyone has the blues at one time or another. 

Something I like about Samantha is that she’s always pushing herself musically, you can see that in her videos and hear it in her music. She’s willing to experiment and has even leaned into a vintage sound and dipping into Jazz and Rockabilly on her Chills and Fever album. Even when straying from a traditional blues sound and surrounded by saxophone and trumpet, you can still hear her blues influences when she would solo. 

She’s growing and she’s played with all the greats which is another cool thing about blues players…they promote each other. It certainly doesn’t hurt to be seen playing with the likes of Eric Gales and Joe Bonamassa and many others. It’s all about broadening the music and adding to the audience. 

“...expand into different genres while retaining the roots I’d built in the blues world.”

— Samantha Fish

In 2020 she sponsored the NOLA Cigar Box Guitar Festival, so it seems she’s definitely into the music, the preservation of the history, and the spreading of the niche as she draws the crowds. She’s helping get the word out about CBG’s.

So what would I say to Samantha if I got to meet her? I’d tell her thanks for the constant feed of great music, I’d tell her that I appreciate her efforts and her willingness to grow as a musician and leading the way in keeping something like Cigar Box Guitars in the eyes of many so it’s not lost.

The other thing I’d do is apologize to her for the rude and crude comments left on her videos by people that have no manners.

She doesn’t need people to pervy comment on her looks and all the other things that guys hiding behind a computer screen say.  I’m quite sure she wants to be appreciated for the time she spends on her music and her talents, not all that other stuff.  I am sure she has a certain thickness to her skin about those things but if it makes me cringe she probably rolls her eyes at all that stuff too.

Samantha if you happen to see this, not all of us have forgotten manners and much respect for you for what you have accomplished.  Keep bringing us great music, and keeping the blues alive. I hope to see you in concert soon. C’mon down to Texas!

---

Stub Lee | Little Towns of Pain | New Single Release

Little Towns of Pain is a new single by Stub Lee that was released today on major streaming platforms and YouTube. The song takes a look at how some small towns hinder people because of social and religious pressures. Drama usually starts from those who get nosey and need to know what everyone’s business is. It has a slower blues feel to it and might be better listened to in the presence of your favorite beverage.

Artificial Intelligence and Blues Music Art

The world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is growing exponentially and the technology is maturing daily. I’m experimenting with this newfound technology to make blues and rock music-related art. I’m using words to make the Ai model generate the image and if I want to tweak something I have to refine my words, terms, and phrases, called prompts. This isn’t such a stretch because musically we do the same thing with lyrics. The words we use help color the sound of a song in many cases.

When making these images I had to particularly think about how I wanted the image to look and then write the description, or prompt.   The computer then digitally realizes that and if I’m happy with the results, I clean them up in photo editing software, maybe adding or taking away an element, text, or some other graphic. It’s a new medium for me to experiment with as I have never been very good at rendering images with paint or drawing. My images have always been generated by various cameras and rendered digitally or physically by chemicals and paper in film media.

What I find fascinating about these images is that the colors fall right in line with my own vision in most cases. But the best part is that if they need to be tweaked, just rewrite the description. It’s an infinite creative outlet for me.

Here’s a small gallery of the results I’ve been able to achieve.