JACKSON HOLE, WYO – Known for her endearing “cowgirl jazz” music style that combines the colors and textures of jazz and blues with the lyric strengths of Western music, Arizona native and part-time local LeeLee Robert is dropping a new Western Swing album, Swing Set. The Academy of Western Artists just nominated Robert for Best Female Western Swing Vocalist for the studio effort, which was recorded in Nashville with session players. She’ll celebrate the release as a five-piece band, 7:30-11 p.m. this Thursday at the Silver Dollar Showroom. The show is free.
In many ways, Robert is an anomaly to the Jackson music scene. She’s a talented guitarist and vocalist that brings a distinctive vibe to stage and has a passion for pushing boundaries with her original music after being the in the business for “several decades,” according to a release. And the combination of her talents is not going unnoticed on the Western scene. In 2014, The Academy of Western Artists voted her seventh album, Jewel of the West, as Best Western Album of the Year. She followed that up with Let Me Be The One, a twelve-song jazz set inspired by Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass that featured five songs written by Robert. Swing Set is her ninth album.
Robert picked up the guitar at age twelve, wrote her first song at fourteen and started her professional music career at sixteen when she won The Arizona Teenage Fair and received $50, a recording contract, and a one-week stint at The Shrunken Head Coffeehouse. Eventually she worked her way up to singing with a 13-piece orchestra at the renowned Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.
Outside of music, Robert has also authored two books—a biography on her father and the co-authored business oriented Gendersell: How to Sell the Opposite Sex. She also created a niche in the speaking industry by combining public speaking with original music and she has performed across the U.S., England, Finland, Germany, and New Zealand for audiences as large as 25,000 people.
LeeLee’s band will feature over 230 years of showroom-stopping experience from Dave and Kathy McCann (bass/fiddle), Mike Calebrese (drums), and Keith McCoy (lead guitar).
For more information, check out LeeLeeMusic.com and WortHotel.com.
