Tempo Magazine/ The Taos News
Nov. 6-12, 2003

The Hum
by Brandt Legg

It is often a struggle to present one's art to the world, and too often, life forces those dreams to be surrendered. Despite major challenges, Stephanie Lee has persevered toward a life of music.

She began writing poetry at age 8, which slowly gave way to song lyrics.

"I became obsessed with writing songs, learning to play piano and singing." she said.

Her mother trained to be an opera singer, an uncle was a concert violinist and, so, she knew music was in her.

For reasons clear only to a teenager, she ran away from home at 13 and hitchhiked from Vermont to Oregon. She said she followed hippies and lived with nature, but in less than a year she hitchhiked back across country.

"There were no pianos in the woods, what was I going to do?"

She wound up at a Steiner School where "there was a grand piano and they let me just stay–I could play whenever I wanted." The next few years were a blur from New York to Los Angeles. In 1977 she landed in Taos, and by now she had kids and bills.

Taos can be hard, especially if you are a single mother and are struggling to get by. Somehow she managed to raise her children without ever quite letting go of the music. She filled pages with hundreds of songs and during the 1980s was able to perform and continue to learn what she calls, "an incredible artistically nurturing town."

In the 90s, Lee played regularly around Taos and earned fans of her niche style that falls between jazz and folk. She bought a cheap trailer, moved it out to the desert with no running water or electricity in order to save every penny to record a CD.

By the end of the decade, she was awarded a Sumacil Foundation grant, did mailings and organized a benifit. She had to get the music out.

"It about killed me-working all day-raising money in any free time and recording at night-it was brutal" but soon "with the help of many," Lee was able to finish her first album. It's called "Bliss Is The Aftermath."

"Bliss" combines her jazz-folk style with a bit of blues and urban music mixed in. Taos mainstays Jenny Bird, Jimmy Stadler and Peter Barbeau also appear on the record. Lee said it was well received and set out on a mini tour of the west coast.

She also got noticed by Juno award-winning producer, Norman Barker. The Juno is the Canadian version of the Grammy. Lee moved to Canada to record her next CD, "The Old Man's Stories." It is a collection of original songs which reflect "things I have seen and people I have known and their stories." It is a more polished CD and the production quality is noticeable.

The most important thing is that Lee doesn't stop getting a message and the songs out there.

Lee does not hide her beliefs, a recently released single (which she makes available for free as a download from www.vigilantemusesociety.com) titled "Get out the Bushes, Get out the Thieves," is a blatant affront to the Bush administration's post-Sept.11, 2001 policies.

With lines like: "Got a crazy man on the hill, got a crazy man on the hill/ His big plans might get us killed/ He wants their oil, they're in the way..." Lee makes her point.

Lee said, while living in New York this past year, "the press wouldn't touch me and it was almost impossible to get bookings, the song was just too controversial."

She also filed a complaint with the ACLU when a stack of her CDs of the song were confiscated at JFK International Airport–"thanks to the Patriot Act." Lee caught up with "Bowling for Columbine" filmmaker Michael Moore on his recent book tour and was able to put a copy of the single into his hands. "I wrote it after I saw the administration taking advantage of what happened on 9-11, and turned it into a get Iraq plan, they are just criminals."

Lee is already working on a third album, with three-quarters of the songs written. She will soon head to L.A. to work with veteran producer and multiple award-winner Chris Julian. "It will be a more organic project with cello, acoustic piano and more ballads," she said. Lee has also formed her own publishing company, Spread the Bread Publishing, and an independent label, New Goddess Records.

She wants the art released her way and it doesn't seem like anything will stop the music.

Lee will be performing at Metta Projects Theatre, 114 Alexander Street, along with Peter Barbeau Friday (Nov. 7),7:30 p.m. and at the Historic Taos Inn, Jan. 14, 7 p.m.

For more information, recordings and bookings call 575-7704004 or e-mail stephanielee72@hotmail.com and visit online www.vigilantemusesociety.com.

Brandt H. Legg hosts the weekly KTAO-FM 101.9 regional-music show "Spotlight on New Mexico" Sundays, 3-7 p.m., and at www.ktao.com. Contact him at: spotlightonnewmexico@msn.com.