CCpedia

Lee’s introduction to Country music came, around 1976, when he joined a charity group that used to rehearse on Monday nights at the Haystack pub on Canvey Island. Lee enjoyed playing Buck Owens songs with the group as well as other classic Country songs by both male and female singers.  He also played some Shadows instrumentals. In 1977, aged 16, he joined Bonanza, an Essex-based band which played a mixture of pop and Country.  In the late 1970s, Lee was a member of a function band called Jade for a while.
Lee turned fully pro on 4th May 1979 when he started touring the UK with a pop/disco band called Whiskey Mac. It wasn’t long however before he was invited to join George Moody’s Country Squires to replace Rae England on lead guitar. In c1971 Rae England and Peter Waknell formed a new band. The first gig was at the Tilbury Irish Club but the band had no name. When Rae was asked what the band was called he looked at the drinks behind the bar and saw Squires Gin “The Country Squires” was his reply. In 1977 George Moody joined the band and they became George Moody and The Country Squires.
Lee had seen and admired the Country Squires many times when they played the Haystack pub on Canvey Island.  Rae continued to play with The Country Squires from time to time as a dep.  Later that year, the band was expanded to a five piece with the addition of Ric Boland on pedal steel guitar, 6-string dobro, harmonica and vocals. Lee played on the bands next album, Country News which was released in 1979.  The band quickly proved very popular on the Country club circuit and by 1980 they were working up to six nights a week with many of the gigs being in East Anglia. During the previous year, they received 12 ‘top band’ club awards.
The Country Squires line up was quite fluid as musicians came and went in quick succession.  Lee Hodgson stayed for less than two years although he did play other gigs with George a year or so later including a tour of Scotland; Ric Boland had left by this time.  Lee was replaced by Keith Chinnery on lead guitar.  In 1981, Ric Boland recorded a solo album called Memories which included Lee Hodgson, George Moody on rhythm guitar and Peter Waknell on bass.
While working with The Country Squires, many of the bands bookings were in East Anglia which allowed Lee to begin teaching guitar to people of all ages during the day. His pupils included a member of Radiohead.
After leaving The Country Squires, Lee worked with the De Cruz brothers, Doug and Don. They often played in the small hall at The Paddocks at Canvey Island. In the main hall there was a regular country music club, The Mustang CMC on Monday night. The club was run by Alan Woodhouse and his brother Vic would often turn up. Vic fronted the award winning Hickory Lake band and presented a Country show on BBC Radio Essex.
Lee joined Essex based Phoenix Country band around the same time. Pete Ryder fronted the band with Ron Meggs on pedal steel guitar and Mick Hoares on bass. Not everything Lee did was Country. In c1979 he joined Kenny Baxter’s Turntable as a guitarist. They were a ‘Sunday lunchtime’ jazz-funk band.  He stayed with the band for 5 years but was later invited to re-join the band for occasional reunion gigs with Turntable II in 2002. In 1981 he joined Barley, a comedy showband (guitar, lead and harmony vocals) fronted by Paul Da Vinci former lead singer with the Rubettes. They played corporate events, plus a variety of nightclubs, theatres and social events. He stayed with Barley for 6 years.  He recently reconnected with Paul joining his current band around 2018, and they are still regularly working together in Paul Da Vinci’s 60s/70s Explosion, mostly at Warners Leisure venues around the UK, but they have also worked at Benidorm Palace and Villamartin in Spain. Also in the early 1980s he worked on the country scene with a female country singer called Jeannie Sinclair.
Moving through the 1980s, Lee was proud to work with another Essex band called Black Gold, which played an eclectic mix of pop, rock, plus quite a few Country songs. The lead singer, Wendy Roberts, sang Linda Ronstadt’s version of Blue Bayou with great feeling. The band’s original lead guitarist, the late Ian Pearce, used to showcase his phenomenal guitar skills by performing Albert Lee’s Country Boy – which he taught Lee the intro to in Tim Gentle’s Music Store in Leigh-on-Sea. It was with this outfit that Lee met and worked with top local session players including genius pianist, the late Pete Jacobsen and Dave Bronze, who went on to become the bassist with Eric Clapton and Tom Jones. The band morphed into The Wendy Roberts Band and Lee still performs in a duo with Wendy to this day.
Lee remained very busy during the 1980s touring for a month with chart topping New York trio Odyssey who later settled in the UK.  Off of the back of that tour, he toured the UK with top 10 soul singer Bobby Thurston. A highlight of his playing career came in 1981, after one of Bobby’s gigs at Gullivers in Piccadilly. Stevie Wonder’s Wonderlove (Stevie’s band) had an end of their Hotter Than July tour after-show party upstairs at the venue and 20 year old Lee got to jam with Wonderlove, which he told me was “just incredible”. He went up to Stevie and told him how good he was! He also worked in a Carpenters tribute show (authorized by Richard Carpenter) in which Wendy Roberts played Karen Carpenter.  Lee has played prestigious venues such as Wembley Arena and the Royal Albert Hall, plus countless festivals, theatre concerts and clubs, often featuring his MIDI-guitar, piano, strings and brass sounds etc. In the mid 1980s he did a number of single concerts playing guitar with chart acts such as George McRae, Limmie & The Family Cooking, plus tribute act, Salute The Supremes.
In 1987, Lee was invited to join the newly formed Memphis Roots. The band was formed by Jon Keys and Barry Westbrook and the first line-up was Barry Westbrook (vocals), Lee Hodgson (lead guitar), Frank Boswell (bass guitar) and Jon Keys (drums).  This line up came about because Barry knew Lee and Jon knew Frank. All were experienced musicians and with the exception of Frank Boswell, had played in other Country bands. Barry Westbrook had been a member of Cody and he had played with a number of other Country bands including, on one occasion, singing lead with Spellbound when Jenny Speller was unavailable.
Jon Keys’ career as a country drummer started with the Jonny Young 4 in 1969. He joined Deadwood in 1970 and was a member of Whisky, which was fronted by Roger Humphries, from 1971-1974. Between 1979-1982 he was drummer in the Ned Porridge Band with Ed Pearson. Frank Boswell had previously played in a Kent-based function band called High Society.
The band’s first cassette album featuring the four founding members was called Highway to Heaven.  Early in their career the band made several gig cassette albums that were co-engineered and produced by Lee and featured some of his original compositions.
Barry Westbrook was the first to leave in June 1989 when he formed Mean Business and he was replaced as lead singer by Ed Pearson. Ed was older than the others, being born in 1937, and his musical career stretched back to the late 50s when he started playing skiffle at the legendary 2i’s coffee bar at 59 Old Compton Street in London’s Soho. Through the 60s he played the London East End clubs in the evening whilst working at the London docks during the day.
He joined his first country band, Country Cousins, in the 1970s and at the end of 1975 he formed his own Ned Porridge Band quickly establishing the band in clubs in London and the south-east. They supported Billy Jo Spears on tour in 1979. Their popularity quickly grew as they made new friends wherever they performed in the UK and further afield in France, Germany and Holland. After the demise of the Ned Porridge Band, Ed joined Spellbound as a replacement for Jenny Speller; reforming the Porridge Band briefly in 1987 before joining Memphis Roots in 1989.
While working with Memphis Roots during the evenings, Lee continued with his guitar teaching during the day. He also began teaching at London’s prestigious Institute of Contemporary Music Performance aka ICMP (formerly known as the Guitar Institute) in 1990. He wrote a 200-page tutorial, Hot Country (with a foreword by Albert Lee) in 1997, and was a regular columnist for both Guitarist and Guitar Techniques magazines for 16 years (1984-2010) and has more recently contributed as a reviewer and interviewer (Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch, Jerry Donahue, Richard Thompson and Albert Lee) for Guitar Interactive. Lee has made many guitar tutorial videos for Lick Library and more recently became a featured artist at Jam Track Central, while also conducting regular masterclasses in various styles for Guitar Weekends Ltd. Lee is an Ernie Ball Strings and Fret-King guitar endorsee.
Back to Memphis Roots, after four years, Frank Boswell left the band in May 1991 to concentrate on running his hairdressing business and he continued as a semi pro-musician with the Kent based Peter Elligate Band, another function band. Frank was replaced by another experienced musician Clive Grant. Clive began his musical career playing lead guitar in Beatles / Rolling Stones cover bands in the 1960s. In the 1970s and early 1980s he was a member of Freeride, a 6-piece jazz funk band. He joined his first Country band playing bass in Spellbound with Ed Pearson, Glyn Long and Tony Caldwell. When they disbanded in 1986, he and Glyn Long joined Rio which was fronted by Steve Scott.
This is probably Memphis Roots’ definitive line-up remaining stable for the next seven years. During this period, they played at every major UK and European festival including Wembley Arena, The Royal Albert Hall and Notts Americana. They backed touring American artistes like Joe Sun, Judy Lindsey, Pinto Bennett and John Permenter and shared the bill with Jerry Lee Lewis, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris and David Allan Coe. They also signed recording contracts with Ritz Records and Carlton Sounds. Their well respected Best of Memphis Roots 20-track album (CD and cassette) was released by Ritz in 1993. Between 1996 – 1998 they made three line dance albums for Carlton, two with other artists and the third Good Noise – The best of western line dancing on their own.  A by-product of this album, on the Hallmark label, shot to no.1 in the budget charts in April 1997. Lee sang lead vocal on several of the tracks.
During his time with Memphis Roots, in 1998 Lee played guitar for a 6-day residency of Patsy Cline – the Musical at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle.
Ed Pearson left Memphis Roots in 1998. By that time he was becoming disillusioned with the club scene following the upsurge of line dancing. He felt the music was becoming more important than the artist and he was finding it more and more difficult to strike up a rapport with his audience. After leaving the band, he spent the next ten years as a soloist working in listening venues. In 2009, Ed was the 20th inductee into the British Country Music Hall of Fame. Two years later he passed away from liver cancer on 26 February 2011.
After the departure of Ed Pearson, Memphis Roots continued as a trio until August 1999 when Jon Keys was forced to retire following a heart attack. His replacement was Wol Webster another musician with an impressive pedigree. Wol has been a professional drummer since the 1970s and was staff drummer with Pye Records for 15 years; there he played on many records from Jeff Beck to Max Bygraves. In the 1990s he had periodic engagements and depping jobs with various popular country bands including Steve Scott & Rio, Barry Westbrook & Mean Business and A Band Named Sioux.
After 14 years of touring, Memphis Roots finally came off the road in 2001. Lee wanted to concentrate on guitar teaching; and Clive and Wol felt it was time for them to move on to other things. There was a Memphis Roots reunion for one show in 2008.
Despite the end of Memphis Roots, Lee remained very busy as a teacher and playing in various bands etc. As none of these bands were as busy as The Country Squires (up to 6 days a week) and Memphis Roots he was a member of many acts at the same time. Not all them were Country.
In 2002 he joined Longshot / Midnite Oasis. (guitar + MIDI, lead and harmony vocals.) They were a long-established Country band fronted by drummer Glyn Long.  Longshot regularly transformed into a dinner-suited function band. As Midnite Oasis they played at corporate events and unusual gigs such as The Royal College of Surgeons’ Banquet and The Tower of London.  He stayed with Longshot for 6 years. Glyn Long is still working as Longshot Duo today. In 2007 he joined the Steve Cherelle Band (guitar + MIDI and harmony vocals.) playing at festivals and clubs. He stayed with the band for 7 years.  Also in 2007 he had three years as a member of Benny & The Jetts (guitar + MIDI, lead and harmony vocals.). They were a rock ‘n’ roll / 60’s band fronted by Ian Geast. The band performed at clubs, private parties and Masonic events. In 2009 he joined The Billy Curtis Band. (guitar + MIDI, harmony vocals.) Performing at major festivals and events in France (e.g. Mirande Festival, Billy Bob’s Saloon at EuroDisney) and in UK clubs. He stayed with the band for 4 years.
In 2010 Lee joined Country band Boney Fingers. (guitar + MIDI, lead and harmony vocals.) Performing at UK country music festivals and clubs. He stayed with them for three years. At the same time he spent two years with a 60/70s band called The Stray Kool Kats.  In 2011 he started working in CMC’s as a solo Country artist which he did for three years.   
In 2011 he formed the Lee J Duo with Ian Geast or Rita B performing country, 60s-70s and oldies at clubs. This duo carried on until 2024. At the same time he also joined Ian Geast’s Allstars performing mainly at private parties and Masonic events. He continues to play with Ian to this day.
In 2014 he formed Lee Hodgson’s Infinities (aka LHI), a 4-piece contemporary jazz band. Between 2016 – 2018 he played guitar and sang lead and backing vocals with a Johnny Cash tribute act Johnny Cash Revisted – Ring of Fire working in festivals and theatres. Having depped briefly with the Henry Smith Band in 2014, Lee did a lot of festival and club gigs with them in 2017/18.
Jon Keys, Lee Hodgson and Clive Grant last played together as Memphis Roots in 2008 but as they were still fondly remembered by so many people Jon Keys promoted a Memphis Roots reunion at Pontins Holiday Park, Pakefield on 14th October 2018 and despite minimal advertising the event was quickly sold out with many country fans keen to see the trio back in action again. Following the success of the reunion, Memphis Roots went back the road and are still available for club and festival bookings. Jon and Lee are also part of John Permenter’s band.
A highlight in the later part of Lee’s career was playing at The Royal Albert Hall in May 2019 with the British Police Symphony Orchestra.
Since 2024 Lee has been working with an Ian Dury and the Blockheads tribute band called What a Waste. Following the passing of George Payling Snr in July 2024, Lee also now works with George Payling Jnr in a revival of Texas Gun (duo). He also works quite regularly with Glyn Long as a member of Longshot (duo).
In 2024 Lee embarked on five new projects, the first of these is Lee Hodgson’s Bourbon Saloon which is adaptable from solo performer to duo, trio or band. Having been on the country scene for over 40 years, Lee knows many of the UK’s top instrumentalists and backing vocalists, so he is happy expand the band for large functions including Country festivals. Bourbon Saloon performs a mix of traditional and modern country music. The Lee J Duo has now become part of Bourbon Saloon.Lee’s second new project is called Lee Hodgson’s Tribute to Glen Campbell & Friends. This is Lee performing, as a solo artist singing popular songs associated with Glen Campbell and other well known country singers including Kenny Rogers, Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond, Eagles, Luke Combs, Alan Jackson and George Strait.
The Eagles are also the subject of his third project called Lee Hodgson’s EagleSublime – another solo tribute to The Eagles, featuring songs famously associated with this legendary band. The next solo show is more guitar-centric and is called Tribute to the Guitar Greats. This features music by some of the most talented guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Hank Marvin, BB King, John Mayer, Carlos Santana, Peter Green, Albert Lee and Joe Walsh.
Lee’s final new project is performed either solo or as a band. Lee Hodgson’s Rhythm Changes is geared towards weddings, corporate work and private functions, as well as pubs and clubs. They will cover all genres of music as requested.
As well as working in a duo with Wendy Roberts he also works with rock singer Susie Brown who is also a fine Country singer and young vocal/guitar talent Masie Glessing. Lee is also currently working as lead guitarist and occasional lead vocalist in Sarah O’Shea’s Patsy Cline & Friends show.