Albert Lee has spent six decades making guitarists reconsider their life choices — and he is doing it still. Eric Clapton’s assessment, “the greatest guitarist in the world,” carries no irony from the man who would know. On Thursday, January 14, Lee brings that career to Daryl’s House in Pawling for the sole U.S. stop on his current tour.
About the Show
Lee is touring behind Lay It Down (2024), recorded at Konk Studios in London and described as “a love letter to some of Albert’s favourite artists and biggest inspirations.” The tracklist maps the center of his musical lineage: Mark Knopfler’s “Setting Me Up” opens the record; Jimmy Webb’s “Too Young to Die” and The Everly Brothers’ “The Price of Love” follow alongside additional covers and a closing original. Where his 2019 album Gypsy Man was composed entirely of covers, Lay It Down pairs tributes with Lee’s own composition as the final track. The album was initially available exclusively at his concert venues before wider release in 2024.
That record reflects a career that has never fit a clean category. Born in Leominster, England in 1943, Lee came up in the 1960s London rock scene before relocating to the United States, where he became one of the most in-demand session guitarists in the country. He served as a sideman for the Everly Brothers and Emmylou Harris, collaborated with Eric Clapton and The Crickets, and has kept at it across a run of decades that most musicians don’t reach. In 2002, he won a Grammy for his contribution to “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” — Earl Scruggs, who had heard a few pickers in his time, called him “a genuine guitar wizard.” He performs on his signature Ernie Ball Music Man guitar, backed by Ali Petrie on keys and organ, Iain Petrie on bass, and Tim Hillsdon and Ollie Sears on drums.
The show is all ages. Doors open at 5:00 p.m.
Venue & Logistics
Daryl’s House is a 300-capacity club at 130 NY-22 in Pawling, in the Hudson Valley. The room closes the distance between player and audience in ways that larger venues cannot, and for a guitarist whose technique rewards careful attention, that matters. The January 14 date is the only U.S. stop on a run whose other dates are all in the United Kingdom — which makes the Hudson Valley the one American opportunity to catch Lee in a proper club setting this cycle.
Tickets
Tickets are $28.69–$45.17. Buy tickets