Audio Mixers: Danny Kopelson; Lee Alexander.

Recording information: The Magic Shop, New York, NY (07/2004).

Photographer: Denise Guerin.

There's no denying that Norah Jones's name is thrown around a lot regarding her labelmate Amos Lee's Blue Note debut. Lee gained renown through touring with her, and Jones and her band are heard lending a hand on the album. Other than a tendency to keep things on the quiet side, though, the comparisons pretty much stop there. Where Jones's piano-based music draws heavily from her love of jazz standards, Lee is another story altogether. His combination of low-key folk-rock and old-school R&B positions him as something of a Bill Withers for the 21st century. Indeed, his silky/soulful voice and emotive, acoustic-guitar-based songs reveal a strong Withers influence, something all too rare in contemporary pop music, R&B or otherwise. Tracks such as "Arms of a Woman" reveal Lee to be a dyed-in-the-wool romantic, but "Bottom of the Barrel" and others indicate his ability to step outside of love-song tropes for a well-rounded songwriting approach.