Born in Dexter, Kansas -- right near the Oklahoma state line -- singer-guitarist Don Lee (1941-1995) was one of the legions of midwesterners who made their way to Los Angeles during the 1960s rock revolution and was a mainstay of the LA country-rock demimonde. An elusive figure, Lee was best known for his work with various fly-by-night cheapie labels. After moving to the West Coast, Lee found steady work as a session picker and bandleader for Crown/Custom Records, playing on uncounted anonymous sessions for dozens of soundalike albums and singles by anonymously-staffed, semi-fictitious "bands," and possibly on the handful albums on the label that used the musicians' real names. Many of these records featured work-for-hire musicians who were in the orbit of the Hollywood-based Palomino Club, as well as a lot of lesser-known country pickers from Bakersfield and the Central Valley. Because Crown Records seldom included composer or musician credits, it's literally impossible to determine how many of their rock and country records included Don Lee playing guitar, or featured his own compositions. He also cut a couple of albums under his own name, and some specific projects and pseudonyms have been linked to him. Though he doubtless banged out a fair chunk of filler tunes for Crown, Lee only became known as a songwriter later, in the 1970s when a few of his compositions became mid-level country hits.
Lee also worked sporadically as a session picker and as a producer for other custom labels, mostly working in Southern California and elsewhere along the West Coast, as well as a few projects back East. His session work dates to the early 'Sixties and lasted well into the 'Seventies, after Crown Records folded. While this page is devoted to his work, I'm not even going to try to track down everything he did... His name pops up in a lot of weird places, and usually whatever he worked on sounded pretty good, though he was said to have had a difficult personality and was hard to work with. Here's a quick look at his career...
Terry Lee "I Love You So Much It Hurts" (Crown Records, 1966-?) (LP)
According to the folks at Wikipedia (and Discogs) this was actually Don Lee recording under an assumed name. I dunno if that's true or not, but this is a fun record, one of those odd cheapo-label sets that's packed with kooky "filler" songs, many of which are kinda groovy, even if they were probably banged out during some hazy, drug-fueled all-nighter. Definitely worth a spin!
Don Lee "Dreams Of The Everyday Housewife" (Crown Records, 1967-?) (LP)
Don Lee "True Grit And Other Pop Country Favorites" (Crown Records, 1969) (LP)
A solo set from Southern California session picker Don Lee, who was in the thick of it in the SoCal country-rock scene, playing gigs at all the hot nightclubs, playing in various bands and doing a lot of session work, including uncountable fly-by-night albums for the various cheapie labels such as Crown and Alshire. Lee's name pops up a lot... He was on the country-rock scene going at least back to the early 'Sixties, and he seems to have had a lot of pull with the club owners and local labels, but for whatever reasons seems to have been universally disliked by his fellow musicians. I do not know the details. Nonetheless, it's a common theme; it comes up a lot. I think this was his only album, though he cut a lot of singles as well. This disc appears to be filled with original material, of the Crown Records variety... slightly malformed, somewhat desperate emulations of popular styles, ranging from dramatic, teenish pop-rock to skeletal recreations of the Bacharach-influenced countrypolitan of the era. There's a lot of filler, but several tracks are good, and as a document of the cheapie label demimonde, it's definitely kinda cool. Perhaps the most notable feature is Lee's voice, which, frankly, was not that great -- he has an artless delivery that sounds conversations, similar to some of Jerry Reed's stuff, but not as confident, and his tone is so thin and high, that at one point the first time I really listened to this album, I actually had to check and make sure I had the record on at the right speed. I'm not trying to sound like one of those snarky, mocking bloggers, but you can see why Don Lee didn't break through as a solo artist; there's an air of Mrs. Miller-ish self-delusion at play, and on some fundamental level, Don Lee really couldn't cut it as a singer. Good guitar picker, though! [By the way, the Robert Redford-lookin' hottie on the cover wasn't Don Lee, as far as I know, though the same model appears on several other Crown releases. I'll look into that someday, too.]
Don Lee "Keepin' It Country" (Album Concepts, 1978) (LP)
(Produced by Don Lee & Bob Kinsey)
This album is made up entirely of Don Lee originals, and came out after he had enjoyed some success as a professional songwriter, notably with Jerry Naylor's 1975 hit, "Is This All There Is To A Honky Tonk" (which was also recorded by Tony Booth) and the religiously-themed prison song, "Jesus Is The Same In California," which cracked into the Top 100 the following year. Alas, neither of those songs are included on this album. A few years later Lee took a couple of shots at getting on the charts as a solo artist, but met with limited success.
Don Lee (Arco Records, 1966-?) (# 6607) (7")
A: "I Found A Way" (c: Don Lee)
B: "Time Will Stand Still" (c: Don Lee)
(Produced by Wes Buchanan)
Don Lee (Newhall Records, 1971) (# N-7105) (7")
A: "The Heaven We Shared" (c: Don Lee & Bill Moore)
B: "West Memphis Arkansas" (c: xxxxxxxxxxx)
(Producer not identified)
Don Lee (Crescent Records, 1981) (# 101) (7")
A: "I'm In Love With A Memory" (c: Don Lee & George White)
B: "Cowley County" (c: Don Lee, George White & L. Goodson)
(Produced by Don Lee & George White)
Don Lee (Crescent Records, 1982) (# 103) (7")
A: "16 Lovin' Ounces To The Pound" (c: Don Lee, B. Duncan, J. R. Halper & B. R. Jones)
B: "All I Ever Wanted Was You (Here Lovin' Me)" (c: Don Lee, J. R. Halper & B. R. Jones)
(Produced by Don Lee)
