Amos Lee returns with new album, same love affair for Tucson

“Personally I was in a very reflective place and I was trying to heal some stuff,” he said during a recent phone call to talk about his show at Fox Tucson Theatre on Saturday, June 4.

The album was Lee’s deep dive into his own mental health issues — he has dealt with anxiety for 20 years — and the ways he copes. But he had no idea how relevant and somewhat universal “Dreamland” would become courtesy of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic in March 2020 “tested everyone’s resolve,” he said.

“When we talk about this past period of time, there’s so many different hallways and tunnels” to coping, he said. “We start out in this same foyer together and we all have different experiences.”

Although “Dreamland” was finished pre-pandemic, the album’s release was delayed as the country shut down in 2020 and slowly came back to life later that year and into 2021.

In that time, mental health, from depression and anxiety to feelings of isolation and fear of what the pandemic would bring, went from being a topic we whispered about behind closed doors to a public conversation. Credit gymnast Simone Biles in large part after she went public with her own mental health issues and pulled out of most of last summer’s Olympic games.

Her story opened the floodgates of other celebrities talking publicly about their issues, followed by public service campaigns nationwide that aimed to destigmatize mental health issues, urging people to seek help from professionals and those around them.

“Dreamland” is Lee’s first album in four years and arguably shows him at his most vulnerable without devolving into self-indulgence. He sings about hope and healing, urging listeners and himself to “Worry no more/There’s an open door for you” and to “See the Light” through the dark: “Even when I feel I’m falling/And there ain’t no one to catch/Feelin’ weightless even though I did my best/Even when I know I’m crying, I’m smiling on the side/‘Cause I know everything gonna be alright.”

In the confessional “Into the Clearing,” Lee finds redemption through absolution while in the titular “Dreamland,” even while you think everyone’s fine and you are the one who’s broken, there’s hope in dreaming.

Lee, who recorded his breakthrough 2011 album “Mission Bell” in Tucson, said his self-reflection came right around the time he turned 40; he turns 45 later this month.

And while the album was pre-pandemic and did not reflect anything he was experiencing during the crisis, he realized “Dreamland” spoke to a broader audience of people who found themselves confronting some of the issues that Lee had been living with for the better part of his adult life.

“I think when you are younger, you are powering through a lot of your pain and not necessarily wanting to reflect on it. I also think there’s value in people who do just power through it and move forward and don’t reflect too much,” he said. “But I’m a writer and that means I’m sort of self-indulgent when it comes to my experiences generally. My job is to confront that stuff and to try to, in some ways … kind of assimilate these ideas and think about how you can communicate this to other people so that they can experience this same thing.”

Lee said the best therapy for him has been returning to the stage. He did a few shows in 2021, but didn’t return to full touring until April.

“Live music is so important. It’s what connects us. It’s a human experience that we were lacking the past couple years,” he said. “We are human and we need to connect with our humanity. … I think … we need to feel our humanity together again. We need to get away from our echo chambers, away from our screens … and get together in a place where I can tell you exactly what I want you to hear.”

He was kidding, of course; music is open to interpretation by the listener and oftentimes, Lee said, your interpretation of his music can be worlds away from what he intended.

“The beauty of music is you are sharing space with people who may believe different things than you and look different than you … and that’s good,” he added. “And that’s why I love live shows. I get to experience something that is both individual and communal.”

Lee also is happy to be returning to Tucson, which he called home for several months while he was working on “Mission Bell.”

“I love Tucson. It’s a magical place. There’s a strange spirit energy there, and I don’t want to sound too esoteric but there is something going on. There are some serious vibes in Tucson,” he said. “ ‘Mission Bell’ was a turning point for me in my career and it was hugely successful, and the Calexico folks and everybody involved in that record were so wonderful to me. We did great live shows at the Fox and I just loved it and I continue to love it. I am super stoked to come back and walk around town.”