Review: Nate Lee Brings Familiar Friends to Playful 'Wings of a Jetliner'

Some bands are so closely linked together, they seem more like family than co-workers. So it is with the band that backs up 8 time IBMA Award winner (and annual Bonnaroo “Jesus Tent” performer, Becky Buller. Over my 11 years of reviewing albums I've heard a number of solo projects by various members of the Becky Buller Band and, to a one, they all contain some or all of the rest of the band. In the case of Nate Lee, Buller's mandolinist and an IBMA Award winner himself, it's “all” on his album Wings of a Jetliner, releasing independently June 12.

So, you might ask, if he's just going to play with all his usual bandmates anyway, even having one of them, guitarist Dan Boner, produce, why even bother with a solo album? On Wings of a Jetliner, there's a sense of branching out, of stretching one's legs (much like you'd do after disembarking from economy class of said jetliner). While much of the album remains rooted in the traditional bluegrass community, there are also tinges of jazz, dance hall, Western swing, and even a nod to punk. And, because this “stretch” involves artists he's so familiar with already, it maintains a cohesiveness that keeps everything tight.

“Wait,” I hear you asking. “Punk? On a bluegrass album?” Yep. In this case, a cover of The Offspring's “All Along.” Although, unless you knew the original, it's unlikely you'd have any idea it wasn't a bluegrass original. There has long been a connection between punk and roots music. It's no accident that more than one punk legend (John Doe, Exene Cervenka, Cheetah Chrome, Orville Peck if rumors are to be believed) have second careers as Americana artists. So it's only fair play that the roots community gives back. In this case Lee gives The Offspring's song a pure bluegrass makeover, but playing at warp speed to keep some of the original's frenetic energy. While Lee and Becky Buller, who provides harmony vocals, may keep their trademark bluegrass twang, the soul of the punk original remains. There is no way a song like this would ever work unless all parties were all in. As it is, it's the album's highest point.

Another stretch for Lee is “The More I Pour.” From the fiddle intro, it's a song that would sound more at home on an Asleep at the Wheel album than a bluegrass one, but again Lee throws himself fully into the project, juxtaposing the bouncy dance hall melody with the lyrics about a drunkard finding his coping mechanism at the bottom of a glass. It's a fun song, and one that makes me long for a full album of Western swing and dance hall numbers from Lee.

There are plenty of other songs to recommend on Wings of a Jetliner. If you want dark and atmospheric, try out the “Miner's Grave”, the dirge of a moonshiner's demise. Want a little jazzy vamping with your bluegrass? “Quick Select” will get you there. Fan of Jerry Garcia's bluegrass jam sessions with Dave Grisman? Try the dueling mandolins of “Serenity.”

Wings of a Jetliner isn't fancy. It's not world-shaking or genre-breaking. It isn't meant to be. But it is an album of bluegrass variations that is at times wistful, at times playful, and at times instrumentally stunning. And sometimes that's all an album needs to be to accomplish what it sets out to do.

Wings of a Jetliner is out now and you can get it at your favorite indie record shop or on Lee's website.