The South Rises with Beatboxes…

Occasional Albums Thing 090 - Lee Bains “Free South 2025”

“Free South 2025” is Lee Bains second live album (the first was “Live At The Nick” from 2019) but this time he is sans Glory Fires and accompanied by just a beatbox and his guitar. 

Lee Bains had a rough time post the release of his fabulous 2022 album “Old-Time Folks”. His trusty old van broke down while he was on tour, his band left him, he caught COVID, he got injured and found himself without health insurance and unable to work, much less tour. He put his efforts into recovering, close to home and his other job doing home repairs, we all gotta turn a buck, right ?

Eventually Lee turned to electronics to replace his band and, scraping together bits of  equipment and a little knowledge about drum machines and beat making he applied all that to his back catalogue of four albums. He took to the road as a one-man show and at one early “electronic” gig an audience member was heard to say "It's like Skynyrd grew up on 2000's rap, and was playing a show at the Haçienda in 1984”. To quote one of “Old-Time Folks” lyrics, Lee Bains was "done playing dead”.

“Free South 2025” was recorded at the Cherry Street Tavern in Chattanooga, TN in August of 2025. It comprises 9 songs drawn from 3 of his 4 albums with the Glory Fires (“Dereconstructed”, “Youth Detention (Nail My Feet Down To The Southside Of Town)” and of course “Old-Time Folks”). It opens with as political a statement as it’s possible to make, “The Company Man”, whose chorus tells us

Said "Don't ever bite the fingers that feed you"
Said Pilate, as he washed the invisible hand
Be good, take care, and Godspeed you
And, lest you forget it
Don't ever trust the Company Man

Get the picture ? Next is the mighty “(In Remembrance Of The) 40-Hour Week” tellin’ us all how we get up to go to work, get ready for work, head to work and we work, ’til we get off work, then we go home to hit the kitchen and get to work, we talk about work, we worry about work, we even dream about it….and maybe we shouldn’t, so much.

Lee Bains makes working class “political” statements in a god fearing Southern style. Another great example of that would be the song “God's A-Working, Man” (note the artfully placed comma). It has a lyric swathed in religious imagery of crucifixes and reading scripture by an oil light, then it hits the chorus of

…Thе longer I’ve been livin, seems like the less I understand
Every morning I hit my knees and thank God my God’s a-working, man
I thank God that He came down here to get to working, man

I’m not in any way religious but when you throw yourself into Southern/Country music you find religion is so deeply ingrained in the life and culture of the South that it’s impossible to get away from it. As Lennon said, whatever gets you through the night, be that a bottle of booze or a bible.

Lastly I’ll mention the beautiful “Gentlemen”. I was lucky enough to promote one of Lee Bain’s UK shows recently and for this song he picked up an acoustic guitar and stepped off the stage into the audience, a circle formed around him as he played this hymn to the values of Southern gents juxtaposed against the actions of some that “…don't seem to give a damn about this place ? No, these whitewashin' boys don't give a good damn about this place”, it was a stunning performance. The song finishes with Lee’s Grandaddy telling him what he expects of him, more of that religious imagery but used in a way even I can understand

Boy, on that lightnin' day, the rivers all sing a rollin' hallelujah
Carry us down to the soft sands of God's balmy shore
I don't care to see cash or deeds, titles or degrees
But the only trophies I hope you'll have to show
Will be able hands, a fertile mind, a gentle soul…A gentleman of this land

Lee Bains is a treasure, a struggling troubadour with his heart and values in the right place. He also happens to be a jewel of a songwriter, a great guitar player and a poet. I’ve been lucky enough to get to know him just a little over the past few years and introduce him to some people who may be able to help him out over here. Do me a favour and take a listen to “Gentlemen”, at least, down below and if you like it, dig deeper. Lee deserves your attention.

Gentlemen - https://youtu.be/p6v-MG_G4Ak?is=dhaSqU4d55W1JLlq