Concert Review: Albert Lee @ The Strand 1/20/24

The temperature on the dashboard stayed at a stubborn 16 degrees for the hour up and the hour and a half back from Hudson Falls through a snow squall. But the Strand Theater was cozy with fans excited to see Albert Lee who was playing American rock and roll in England three years before Eric Clapton started up the ladder of becoming “God” to his fans.  

Albert may not play arenas, but he’s cherished by his fans in this Adirondack foothills community where he’s played enough times in recent years that most people have lost count. His repertoire is like no other British Invasion guitarist in that his early mentors were Chet Atkins and Buck Owens rather than Elvis or even Chuck Berry. 

Albert shrugs off his lack of British Invasion superstar status by saying, “I’m really happy with the way I play. And I’m really happy that I didn’t have a couple of big hits and then was forgotten about. I just rolled along and maintained a following.” 

A resident of L.A. for 40 years, he’s currently touring with his wife and claims he has to maintain a schedule that would exhaust a man half his age because he needs the money. He turned 80 on Dec. 21, and Jonathan Newell, the theater’s major domo, had a birthday cake made for him with an ad for his concert emblazoned in the frosting. 

Albert told his fans that next time he plays Hudson Falls it should be in the summer when its warmer. Although he’s still facile enough in this cold weather on his Gibson guitar to add flourishes to every song in his repertoire, he admitted to me in an advance interview, “The only problem is when you get to be my age, your skin gets thinner, and it’s really hard for me to maintain my callouses on my left hand. It’s a relief when I sit down at the piano (because) it doesn’t matter. With the guitar, it’s painful. If I don’t play for a week or 10 days, I lose what I had. Fortunately, my voice is pretty strong, considering.”

He played a grand piano twice during his hour and a half set showing another facet with delicate piano phrasing that showcased his vocals that were under miked when he played guitar. 

Most of the songs he played this time around were more mid-tempo, leaving Johnny Burnett’s 1956 primal scream “Tear It Up” for his encore. Although his longest tenure was 26 years backing The Everly Brothers, he only played one of their songs, “No One Can Make My Sunshine Smile.” He ended his hour and 35-minute set with “Country Boy” his best-known song made a hit by Ricky Skaggs.  He began his encore with “Better Days” performed on piano with the lyrics: “One thing I know I know/This world has been good to me/There are better days which you will see.” He returned to his guitar for “Rockin’ in The U.S.A.” and “Tear It Up.” 

Jason Smith played drums. David Chamberlain was on bass, and J.T. Thomas who often plays in Bruce Hornsby’s band returned on keyboards. Thomas was fun to watch as he disappeared into the songs as if he were playing them for the first time in years. 

Opening the show was the Strand house band that did a short set of George Harrison and Stones numbers. The five-piece group was fronted by Jonathan Newell who added his own flourishes to high energy versions of “Sympathy for The Devil,” “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” “Beast of Burden,” and “Road Runner.”