10 Artists to Watch: Amos Lee

Who Twenty-seven-year-old Philadelphia native who's rightly tagged as the male counterpart to Norah Jones -- meaning his debut album is on Jones' label, jazz giant Blue Note, and he mines the same vein of breezy folk and soul music.

Late bloomer "Music wasn't a lifelong muse," says Lee. During high school, the six-foot-two musician was more interested in basketball. He didn't start playing guitar until college, when his stepfather gave him an acoustic. As an English major at the University of South Carolina, Lee says songwriting helped him fine-tune his poems. "Songs offered a succinctness, a sort of a frame," says Lee, a fan of Yeats, Keats and James Taylor. It was also during college that Lee got a job at a jazz record store, acquiring a taste for Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. "I would listen to eight hours of music every day," he says. "Amazing music -- the masters, all day. That was sort of a crushing blow to my ego, but it was an amazing inspiration."

Teacher's Pet Project After college, Lee moved back to Philly and began teaching elementary school. But it wasn't long before he quit teaching to play the club circuit, bartending at venues to supplement his income. His bedroom demo wound up at Blue Note, which signed him in 2003.

What's Next Labelmate and kindred spirit Jones picked Lee to open her European tour last spring, and this month he'll join Merle Haggard and Bob Dylan on the road. "I'm pretty happy that I'm going to stay busy for the next two months," an understated Lee says of the Dylan gig. "It's always good to get work."