Interview with Jimi Lee
Jimi Lee grew up in the San Francisco Bay area. After relocating to Hawaii, he spent 12 years captivating audiences from around the world and was voted Best In the State by the Hawaiian Blues Society. He now resides in Austin, Texas where the Austin Blues Society awarded him First Place in the Solo/Duo category at the Heart O' Texas Blues Challenge 2008, and was first to represent Austin at the Blues Foundation International Blues Challenge 2009 in Memphis. Jimi Lee won in Austin again this year and made Austinites proud when he won the 2010 International Blues Challenge Semi-Finals in Memphis. He competed at the Finals as one of the top eight Solo/Duo acts in the world. Jimi was awarded First Place in Blues in 2008 by the Austin Songwriters Group for his song "Pocket Full of Soul." This followed his 2006 win with "Laundromat" and his 2005 win with "Where Are You Tonight." The 2005 contest was held by Austin Songwriter Group and Nashville Songwriters Association International. He went on to win even more that year with a First Place in the Pop category with "I Wanna Kiss You So Bad", and Third Place in Blues Rock with "Cheap Thrills".
The Austin Chapter of the Harmonica Organization of Texas declared Jimi Lee as "one of the best in the world" at playing harmonica in the rack and guitar simultaneously. The 2008 spring issue of Harmonica Happenings magazine featured Jimi in an article entitled "Rack 'm Up! Playing Harp In A Neck Rack: A Q&A With Jimi Lee."
Jimi has performed at the Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica at the Harmonica World convention every year since his first appearance in 2003. Harmonica World convention leaders say' "Jimi is part of the tradition." Jimi travels the country as harmonica and guitarist clinician and shares endorsement's for Seydel Harmonicas with James Cotton, Charlie Musselwhite and Mark Hummel. Over the years, Jimi has ignited stages alongside giants such as Muddy Waters, Bobby Blue Bland, John Lee Hooker, Willie Nelson, Clarence Clemons, Stephen Stills, Coco Montoya, Pinetop Perkins, Charlie Musselwhite, James Cotton, Kim Wilson, Mark Hummel, Jason Ricci, and Chicago's own "shuffle master" Sam Lay.
Jimi is well known for his stellar guitar, vocals and rack harmonica playing. Make sure not to miss our discussions on this and music theory. This interview was recorded in Minneapolis, Minnesota August of 2010.
