Kansas City Show Review for LHO in Elmore Magazine
“Last, but hardly least, we share folk anti-hero (or anti-folk hero) Lee Harvey Osmond, playing and harmonizing with his grown son, Thompson. A rough-and-tumble songwriter with rock-and-roll moves and a wardrobe halfway between Dutch the Biker and Joe the Hobo, Osmond was a founder of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, and helped invent acid-folk, a genre that should have been bigger. Osmond the younger has a terrific voice perfectly suited to high harmony, with tender yodels and cries that perfectly balance the music, like honey on a grapefruit. This night, Dad obviously was teaching the next generation in a hands-on class before our eyes and ears. As Thompson (hands planted firmly in his jacket pockets unless he was wielding a metal shaker) warbled particularly intricately, Lee said, “I want to hear more of that.” Osmond’s songs are something else. Blackie and the Rodeo Kings’ song “Beautiful Scars” has been covered by Vince Gill, among others. The two performed the sexy “Blue Moon Drive,” normally a rocker, but this time acoustic, just with Lee’s one guitar, shaker and foot tambourine, and it sure got my motor running. He ended the show with his usual closer, “Oh the Gods,” but father and son took it to the next level, and the entire room felt it, ending breathless.”
“Now, that’s making music!” someone said. Yes, that’s what Folk Alliance does.
– Suzanne Cadgène
Source: LeE HARVeY OsMOND