The Open Chord stage welcomes O’Connor Lee on Thursday as they prepare for their upcoming first debut duo album release.
Nashville, Tennessee, is often referred to as the home of country music. It earns the name rightfully – after all, it is home to the Ryman Auditorium, Grand Ole Opry, RCA’s Studio B, Bluebird Cafe, Roy Acuff, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, and so much more.
Nashville is also the home to country singer/songwriter duo Forrest O’Connor and Kate Lee of O’Connor Lee. Formerly co-singers of the O’Connor Band with seven-time CMA recipient, violinist Mark O’Connor.
The duo is now releasing their first full-length debut album this spring. Although the couple has strong bluegrass roots, their album was “song-first” and not concerned with one specific genre. The couple wants to use this album to introduce themselves to both new and old fans.
“We’re exploring our history as a duo-couple whose relationship has always been linked to our shared love of the same music; that said, we don’t really sing to each other, as we tend to avoid the duo-couple tropes,” Lee said. “Instead, we channel experiences and emotions that both of us share and that are unique to our lives on the road. As much as we have in common, we also have major differences in our upbringings, some of which are explored on the album as well.”
Lee, originally from Rochester, New York, moved to Tennessee to attend Belmont University in 2010. O’Connor, born in Nashville, moved to Montana with her mother when he was 12 years old. He attended college in Boston but moved back to Nashville in 2014 to pursue music.
Even though the two are from two different families and places, they both grew up around music. Lee started playing the violin in fourth grade because it was offered through her school. Soon after, she started singing and writing songs. O’Connor started off playing piano, violin, and other instruments before picking up the mandolin. It was not until he started writing songs in college that he started to see music in a different light.
“My parents always encouraged my music, and my little brother, Patrick, would even help me out by running sound at my shows when I was growing up. He's now in the Army, training in Kansas City. My parents recently moved to Kentucky to be closer to Forrest and me, but we all still love to visit Rochester when I'm back in town performing,” Lee said. “Forrest grew up around music from day one. His dad, Mark O'Connor, is a world-renowned violinist and had Forrest try out a bunch of instruments before Forrest found the mandolin around age 13 and fell in love with it.
Forrest was always primarily focused on academics, while music was more of an intense hobby until after college when he decided he wanted to make music his career.”
O’Connor now plays guitar and uses it to perform the duo’s songs together.
Lee and O’Connor met during Lee’s last year of college in 2014. O’Connor was wanting to move back to Nashville for music and was looking for a female co-singer. Lee was wanting to find musicians around her own age. They were introduced through a mutual friend, Kristin Wilkinson who is a close friend of the O’Connor family and has previously worked with Lee. The two hit it off and began recording soon after they were introduced. They started dating about half a year later.
The couple think they have an advantage being married compared to other duos because they are able to practice and record at just about any time they want.
“It's allowed us to really perfect that unspoken communication musicians have with one another, especially on stage,” Lee said. “One of us can usually guess where the other is headed during a solo, for example. We also aren't afraid to be really honest with each other. That kind of honesty can be tough to hear sometimes, but with the right intentions behind it, it really does allow us to be the best we can be.”
The O’Connor Band formed in 2015, just a year after Lee and O’Connor met and started working together. Lee described the band as being high energy – both the band and the shows they perform. The group has played at the GRAMMY pre-telecast and opened up various shows for the Zac Brown Band in 2018. To go along with the group’s high energy feel, the music is often fast-paced and challenging.
The O’Connor Band was nominated for a GRAMMY in 2017 with their album “Coming Home.” Lee described the whole event as being surreal.
“We worked really hard on O’Connor Band’s “Coming Home” album, and it felt unique and special to us – different from other projects we’d been part of, and it felt great to be recognized,” Lee said. “We performed at the GRAMMY ceremony, so at the ceremony, we were so focused on giving a great performance, that we didn’t think a lot about whether we’d win or not. It was a wild feeling when it did win.”
The duo collaborations do not stop with Mark O’Connor. They have worked with Paul Simon in the studio and said how kind and inspiring he was to be around. The two have also collaborated with Zac Brown, Kenny Loggins, Clint Black, Jerry Douglas, and various others.
The majority of the songs from O’Connor Lee were written by the couple; however, they also enjoy covering some of their favorites. When it comes to writing their songs, they get a lot of inspiration from their own lives.
“[O’Connor] does most of our songwriting,” Lee said. “He likes to write a lot during periods where he can focus on only songwriting. Often, that will look like a period where we have a few weeks off when he can read a lot and get his mind moving creatively.”
Usually, he will start writing melodies and then lyrics will come; however, it does not always happen like this. Unlike her husband, Lee is not as “disciplined” when it comes to writing songs.
“I mainly write when inspiration strikes, but I will often bring song ideas to some of my favorite songwriters like Pat Alger and Marcus Hummon and we’ll develop them together.”
The duo has a plethora of songs from the over the years but picked only 10 for their debut album.
“[O’Connor] and I are beyond excited to make a debut duo album after all these years,” Lee said.
The couple looks forward to seeing how fans react and what their favorite songs are off of the album.
“It’s really hard to pick favorites with your own material, so we are always really curious to hear what songs different people connect the most with,” Lee said. “I’m excited to have a full body of work that represents exactly where we’re at right now too because right now feelings we have about our style, our message, our sound, etc. are only in [O’Connor] and my minds and in our laptops and hard-drives from these recording sessions.”
As musicians they are excited to share their works with everyone because they have put so much into creating each song. Moving forward, O’Connor Lee plans to create some music videos for the songs on their album.
“We look forward to putting together more shows and building our audience,” Lee said. “We both have been eating, sleeping, and breathing music for a long time. It gives us purpose and hope and we’ll keep on keepin’ on building our lives in the music believing that we can touch others with it.”
The show starts at 8 p.m. and tickets are still available online.