Born in South Korea, raised in Minnesota, Conor Lee has spent most of his life living somewhere in the middle. Picking up the guitar for the first time in 7th grade, Lee became infatuated with the electrifying sounds he was creating playing along to Green Day records in his room. 

 

Growing up and out of teenage angst, Lee would begin to yearn for new sounds. In 2011, he would go on to study music at the collegiate level at Minnesota State University Moorhead and graduated with a degree in Jazz Studies. His time in music school exposed him to the sounds of contemporaries Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mike Moreno, Jonathan Kreisberg, Ben Monder, and Bill Frisell. Through these individuals, Lee would slowly begin to craft his unique voice on the guitar.

 

Immediately after college, life became a revolving door of rehearsals and long ventures on the road as an active sideman performing across the United States and Canada. Lee has had the fortune to open for Lake Street Dive, Anderson East, Your Smith, Elle Cordova (formally Reina Del Cid), Moon Hooch, Deana Carter, Little Texas, and Craig Morgan. 

 

In 2020, this revolving door came to a screeching halt and Lee was left uninspired and jaded. Paralyzed from burnout and anxiety from global uncertainty, he was unsure if he would be able to return to music again. Desperate for a remedy, Lee began to revisit the music from his formative years and was able to rediscover what made him want to become a guitarist all over again. 

 

Living somewhere in the middle, Lee rides the divide of his influences. Blending alternative rock with lush soundscapes, jazz influenced melodies, and dance floor drum grooves, Lee’s music explores themes of nostalgia, soul searching, and navigating hardship.

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