Lee Coulter - 2010's Breakout Artist

When my wife Sandi first used her iPod, she was on the treadmill, getting a running measure of her pulse. "Oh," she confessed later, "I had a weird thing happen. When Jack Johnson's song came on, my heart beat rose by 10 beats per minute." Tonight at Lestat's, we discovered a talent who, on the Jack Johnson accelerated heart beat scale, was probably a 15.

Listening to Lee Coulter, I could hear elements of some of the rhythmic play of G. Love and lyrical fluidity of Jason Mraz and, of course, the smooth feel of Jack Johnson. His lyrics are smart and actually provoke laughter and paint images. It would not surprise me at all to hear I Would Love, Jeep Song, or She Fell in Love with the Mirror being played (repeatedly) on the radio next year.

Lee is from Australia but now lives in San Diego. As we waited for the show, we heard a sound check that seemed to never end, wondering why a band would play and play just to get the mix and volume right. As it turns out, Lee and his band were playing together for the first time. To my ears, they have something that could explode.

Here is I Would Love, a video of Lee playing solo. The song was enhanced by the band, but it'll give you some idea of how lyrically smart he is. If you want to hear more, go to Lee's myspace page. There you can download the song Earthquake, with special guest Stepchylde, who was inspired in his performance with Lee and the band tonight.

When Lee breaks out in the next 18 months or so, you regular readers of R World can say that you knew about Lee way back in 2008. "Some pseudo-futurist predicted that he'd be big," you'll say. "Turns out he was right."

Enjoy.