Nashville Native Gabe Lee Readies New Album “The Hometown Kid”

Many country music artists are based in Nashville, and many more come to the city every year to “make it” in the mecca of the country industry. But a very select few country performers are actually from there. Gabe Lee is one of those rare few, and he’ll be offering his assessments and perspectives on his hometown along with other heartfelt expressions in a new album called The Hometown Kid. Lee’s third album overall, it will be released on October 28th via the Torrez Music Group.

First emerging with his 2019 debut album farmland, Gabe Lee quickly distinguished himself as a top flight songwriter in the field of new independent country performers, and an incredibly passionate and soulful singer with songs like “Eveline” and “Emmylou.” The son of Taiwanese immigrants, Gabe grew up in the church where his mother played piano, and the appeal for the culture he was surrounded by in Nashville took hold.

But it wasn’t until Gabe Lee left Nashville to go to college in Indiana that he was able to give a deeper assessment of his surroundings. This also happens each time he takes off on tour.“This album is about departing and returning to your hometown,” says Gabe. “More specifically, it’s about the discovery, searching, and maturing that comes not only with being gone, but with returning to the place you come from.”

This is what you hear in the album’s debut single “Rusty” (listen below). The Hometown Kid was recorded at the Farmland Studio in Nashville, with most of the twelve songs tracked live. Pedal steel and fiddle help keep the songs grounded in country roots, but Gabe Lee gives himself the latitude to utilize the sounds and attitude of Heartland rock to flesh out some of these songs as well, while others have a distinctly John Prine jug band feel to them.

Gabe Lee continues to be one of the most underrated songwriters and performers in the current independent country wave that is swelling into a tsunami, threatening to consume Nashville and cleanse the streets of the wannabes and copycats. Few can walk down the sidewalk of Music City and claim to be born and raised there. Gabe Lee isn’t just one of those very few, he’s also on the cutting edge of returning the substance and soul to the music of Nashville than made it a destination for country performers and hopefuls in the first place.

TRACK LIST:

1. Wide Open
2. Over You
3. Lucky Stars
4. Buffalo Road
5. Rusty
6. Kinda Man
7. Lonely
8. One Of These Days
9. Longer I Run – Hammer Down
10. Never Rained Again
11. Long Gone
12. Angel Band

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