Lee Mellor's second album is currently in the final stages of production "Masterful.Mellor sparkles pure poetry.in a few years this boy will be standing among the very greatest." - Rootstime :".the stuff of South Ontario Gothic literature from the likes of the late Timothy Findlay. All played by a band of mudhounds that would make Blue Rodeo green.Mellor sets his own gold and silver standard for anyone who hangs words on a string." - Will McGuirk, Oshawa This Week ".how does a 25-year-old kid
craft the finest alt-country album of the year?" - Bob Klanac, Scene Magazine“Mellor has defied the odds with this gritty and convincing debut release…word is spreading here…” – Kerry Doole, Exclaim Magazine"Lee Mellor returns the lyric to music, the crafted phrase, the arresting image, a cool shift to the language, in songs that dance with the road, the dust,the tumult of living. This is a fine sound and a songwriter to be sought out and listened to." - Trevor Ferguson, Award Winning Novelist and Playwright
“…a first class story teller who writes words that immediately come to life. Even if you just read them, they sound like music. … Mellor writes golden verses” – John Gjaltema, Alt Country Netherlands"This promising debut from a Montreal based singer-songwriter includes in-your-face country-rockers and twangy, detail-rich story-telling songs." - Mike Regenstreif, The Montreal Gazette “…a record that no roots lover can get away from…a perfect record…there is really nothing at all to criticize…5/5” John Gjaltema, Alt Country Netherlands"One of the most ambitious alt-country songwriters on the scene.rough, manly music as if he were channeling Hemingway himself." - Denis Armstrong, The Ottawa Sun A Native American girl flees dejection and alcoholism on the rez only to disappear along the highways of rural Manitoba. Desperate for cash, a war orphan turns to bank robbery and finds himself mercilessly holed up in prison. These tales could easily be found in the pages of literary fiction, or captured on the celluloid of indie cinema. In reality, they are songs.
Introducing Lee Mellor…
twenty-seven years old and slowly garnering attention as one of Canada’s most underrated songwriters. His words have been compared to the celebrated Canadian author Timothy Findlay, his ethos to Hemingway and his songwriting and delivery to such greats as Steve Earle, Bob Dylan and Stan Rogers. He has been praised by Canadian country legends Prairie Oyster while his debut album Ghost Town Heart (2007) has been called “brilliant”, “detail-rich” and “in your face.”
Born in England’s industrial north-west, Mellor’s first impressions of the world
were smoke-stacks, rain and the stench from the local animal incinerator. By the late eighties the Mellor family left the smoggy Merseyside to settle half an hour east of Toronto in the subdivisions and farmland of Bowmanville, Ontario. Discovering rock music at the age of thirteen Mellor immediately began to write songs, and by graduation began to delve into poetry, folk and country music. Encouraged by the reaction to his music, he moved to Montreal were he spent the next two years cutting his teeth. Seeing the potential to catapult onto the global stage, Mellor swore to expend as much money and effort as necessary to craft the perfect debut album.
In August of 2007 the task was complete. Released independently, Ghost Town Heart met with warm critical and popular reception particularly among students, blue-collar workers and folkies. No stranger to live performance, Mellor has played numerous music festivals including Canadian Music Week and Summerfolk, and has been spotlighted on CBC Radio, Radio Free Montreal and various newspaper publications in Montreal and south-western Ontario. In the words of CBC radio’s Jacquie Czernin, Lee Mellor is one Canadian artist who is “going far!”
