About Me
Bio: Lee Patterson was born and raised in West Texas in the late 50's. He found a Hawaiian Guitar in his parent's closet before school age and began to play it. His mother saw him playing the musical instrument and enrolled him in choir classes upon entry into elementary school and then enrolled him in violin lessons later.
His mother also purchased a small electric keyboard organ for him to play on at early school age and he began to get acquainted with keyboards. Eventually he began practicing on a piano in the basement of a Methodist Church and later in the Music Theory classroom of his high school after school hours. In her observations of his musical interest, his mother bought records of classical music such as Peter Tchaikovsky, Igor Stravinsky, Modest Musorgsky, Johann Strauss Jr. and Gustov Mahler. In junior high school, he switched to cello and began lessons on the clarinet and played these instruments throughout high school. He played in the City Chamber Orchestra next to his violin teacher at the age of fourteen. In Lee's early years, Galen Blake (his cousin), taught him how to properly tune and play a guitar and soon Lee learned his first song on the guitar which was "Folsom Prison Blues" by Johnny Cash.
In his first year in high school he auditioned for the lead guitar position in the high school jazz band. He became acquainted the bass guitar when he was impressed by Billy Preston's album "Outa Space". He auditioned for the bass guitar position in the school jazz band the next year and secured the position. Seeing his musical interests evolve, his mother purchased albums by such bands as Chicago, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Yes, Led Zepplin, Black Sabbath and Mahogany Rush. He began playing Gospel Music from his teenage years into his early adulthood. He worked with the band Promise in San Diego which provided him with his first album. He, also, debuted with the band Joy (also in San Diego) for their second album. During this period he did a lot of multi-track tape recording on ten-inch reels. He also served in the military during the early part of these years, which provided him with a basic background in electronics. This experience proved to be useful for him in the music industry later in life. After the military and couple of civilian years in Southern California, he moved back to West Texas and studied Business Administration at Angelo State University for a couple of years. During this time he started playing professionally in "biker" bars, blues clubs and country bars playing in such bands as the Main Street Band, Blue Plate Special, the Alton Baird Band and Saltwater Creek. Eventually, he began traveling with Texas Swing bands touring the US and Canada after college. In his travels he had the privilege of working with Billy Mata of San Antonio, Texas.
He arrived in the Bay Area in the early 90's and has performed in a variety of local bands and has since participated in the creation of Peninsula bands such as Ceasar Myles and the Dreaded Truth, The Naked Poets, Altered Natives, The World Famous Great Unknowns (featuring Chris Rodriguez of Tempe, Arizona), Najera, and the D. B. Walker Band. He has also been a member of these Bay Area bands and Artist's Projects: Brad Souls, Time Machine, Najera, Popsycle Love Sponge, T & Company, Bole Bantu, Eleven Wails, Rodeo Clowns, Luvhed and the Shameless Senators of Swing. He has also worked with Herhsel Yatovitz (Lead Guitarist for Chris Isaacs), Jeff Stratton (Lead Guitar for Billy Preston and worked with Bo Diddley), Deuces Wild, Storyteller, The Mark Reed Band, Tia Carrol, Archie Lee Hooker, Bundy Brown, Tom Hillary (former Lead Guitar for the Bellemy Brothers), Stranger Things, David George (Drummer for Malo), Larry Burman (Drummer for Lydia Pence and Cold Blood), Leonard Haze (Drummer for Y&T), Powerage (AC/DC Tribute Band) Brandon Raye (Vocalist for Children of the Damned) and Carlos DeJesus.
Today, he works with Art and Ronda's Jam Session at St. James Gate in Belmont Ca., Erica Lee and her Band: Pier Pressure and The Between the Lines Quartet featuring Lis Lossong. He, also, supports a number of music projects in the Bay Area Region and surrounding area of Northern California.
