Storytelling has been an anchor of Lee's music since the very beginning. He launched his career

as a genre-bending musician after returning to Tennessee, quickly progressing from dive bar gigs

to high-profile opening slots (including shows with Jason Isbell, Los Lobos, and other artists

who, like him, blurred the lines between roots-rock, country, and other forms of American folk

music) to his own headlining shows. Throughout it all, he drew upon the narrative skills he'd

sharpened as a student. If albums like Honky-Tonk Hell and The Hometown Kid often unfolded

like autobiographical entries from his road journal, then Drink the River shows an even broader

range of his storytelling abilities. Lee isn't just writing songs about himself; he's writing songs

about all of us. And maybe, in doing so, he can bring us a little closer together.