Any new signing to Loose Music always makes us prick up our ears – they are one of the UK’s best and most reliable labels – and with Frankie Lee their quality control radar has come up trumps again.

His story sounds like it comes from a novel or film. Born on the banks of the Mississippi river, his family later moved to Minneapolis. Following the death of his father in a motorcycle accident when he was 12, Frankie immersed himself in the city’s music scene, appearing onstage with local heroes Slim Dunlap (The Replacements) and Curtiss A at the impressionable age of fourteen. After inheriting records and instruments from his father’s collection, Lee was – as he sees it – “taught to play guitar by a ghost”. He continues, “I was raised on stage. These guys would bring me into the clubs, sit me behind the soundboard and give me all the coca cola I could drink until they’d call me up for a song or two at the end of the night.”

At the age of 20 he dropped out of college, re-invested his soccer scholarship fund in a Volvo station wagon and drove down to Nashville where he met Merle Haggard on his first day in town. Lee then moved on to Austin where he spent 6 years working for Townes Van Zandt’s son JT building cabinets outside of town in Buda, TX.

Soon after he turned 22, Lee was diagnosed with narcolepsy, and was prescribed methamphetamines to counteract its effects. Over the next two years he struggled to find a midpoint between sleepwalking and speeding, and developed a serious drug habit in the process he has since kicked. In 2010 he moved back from California to Minnesota to be closer to his family. In a series of diners and motels during the long drive Lee penned the songs which were later released on his DIY Middle West EP. The last three years have been spent working on a hog farm in rural Minnesota and developing songs for his debut album. Many of these songs reflect his change in focus from the guitar to the piano, a move necessitated by a farming accident that crushed three fingers of his left hand.

Frankie Lee will release his debut single Where Do We Belong via Loose on the 4th September. It will be available on limited edition 7” vinyl and feature the AA-side Buffalo.

Stream it here. Another absolute gem.

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