Michael Lee Wolfe

This story is about 40 years of an expatriate living in Spain. And really, it's a love story.

Michael Lee Wolfe spent about 5 minutes on the streets of Oviedo on December 28, 1984 when he met the woman he would marry.

It is not surprising that December 28 is the day of the Holy Innocents in Spain. It was long before there were bagpipes, accordions, jacks, muñeiras, tunes, jazz standards, or indeed anything original in Wolfe's repertoire. It was time to scratch out some loud blues and share microphones dangling from smoke-stained ceilings with the harmonica player. Who had money for a microphone stand? They had to beg for the amps. The pool tables were hotel beds.

The story is best told through songs.

From an early age, Wolfe had a taste for music that could be considered offbeat. Hear the bagpipes of Xuacu Amieva and the voice of Marta Arbas it was a revelation. And it didn't take long to play Asturian popular music with Ubiña and Xaréu. 

In one of Ubiña's first shows in Mieres, a young and cheeky Michael did not hesitate to scold the new director of the Cultural Center, a certain ismael arias. It seems that Ismael had hired two clueless guys to make the sound who were also very high. Ishmael found the anger of the young American so amusing that he became friends with the foreigner, resulting in a prolific collaboration that continues to this day.

Meanwhile Wolfe observes that the folkloricos are always playing in theatres, squares or open air, or late night festivals, while all the other locals huddle in the corners of the pubs between the toilets and the slot machines. Yes. Folkis are neither famous nor better musicians, but for some mysterious reason framed in Spain's post-transition era, they are paid with government money to play traditional Spanish tunes on large stages.

This situation leads to a business, Lee Wolfe Concert Promotion. Wolfe knew that in the US, Uncle Sam doesn't spend much on the endless stream of great blues, jazz and gospel artists. Some may not enjoy an international reputation but nonetheless have long credentials and great stories to tell. Starting in 1992, Wolfe realizes that there is enough cultural money to bring some of these American artists to perform in Spain, and he does. These tours include The Fairfield Four, Aubrey Ghent, Rebecca Parris, Matthew Skoller, The Persuasions, Tony Trischka, and Philadelphia Jerry Ricks, among many others.

Two of these American artists are kind enough to allow Wolfe to perform with them in a duet format. Simply put, Wolfe gets an education in every sense of the word. Sidney James Wingfield and Ernie Hawkins They couldn't be more different as blues musicians, but they don't get any better. wingfield he has played with many of the stars of his day, including for over a decade as pianist and organist for the late great Luther Allison. Sidney is an incredible singer and performer with gushing charisma. ernie hawkins he is a walking encyclopedia of all things blues. A virtuoso ragtime guitarist who is also considered by the likes of Tommy Emmanuel and Jorma Kaukonen as the world's foremost expert on the music of the Reverend Gary Davis, as well as any blues legend you can name.

After seeing these masters up close on the same stage, Wolfe eventually begins writing his own songs, as well as forming his own Asturian folk group, The Asturiana Mining Company, which is still active today. In 1998 Wolfe released his first CD of American roots music, The Fireman.. This is where we begin to hear the traces of the love story that make up Wolfe's early songs. The Fireman is well received and Wolfe begins to perform in Spain with the Blues Rangers. Songs like Hollywood Movies, My Spanish Heart, Last Boxcar Song, Skippers, Allegheny River Blues, and Reunion, among others, are a good estimate of this history.

The woman he met on December 28, 1984, Raquel Mónica, is present in all of this.

And the story continues at a hectic pace. Corners of the World it is the second album of original themes and arrives after Patrimoniu, the first recording of The Asturiana Mining Company. Corners marks the beginning of Wolfe playing bluegrass in earnest and this could not have happened without the contributions of Angel Ruiz, the best and the only banjo player in Spain. As for Patrimoniu, it finds a home in the hit Spanish film Ask the King for Accounts and is launched internationally in Lochshore Records, Glasgow. Contains The Trova del Minerú, an old Scottish song about coal mining made popular by Pete Seeger and translated into Asturian by ismael arias.

We have been on this Spanish adventure for about 20 years and so on Corners of the World the themes of longing and aging begin to creep into this story with songs like Prescott, Reunion, Allegheny River Blues, Sara or All Day Blues.

An invisible musical storm is brewing on the horizon. And like a hurricane, it has a name: Annabelle Santiago. By the end of 2002, Anabel is close to premature exhaustion due to the even more premature success she had experienced as a teen traditional tune singer. It takes a while to find the right blend of blues and tune, but both artists knew it was there from the start.

Between 2003 and 2009 they produce 3 albums with Wolfe competing in that duo with some of the best Asturian musicians such as Jacobo de Miguel, David Casillas, Sergio Pevida, Silvia Fernández, Maraya Zydeco, Manuel Cordero or Berto Varillas. Songs like come see me have been compared to Neil Young's Rust Never Sleeps. And Anabel sings Folsom Prison Blues quite convincingly in the Asturian language, with translation by Ismael Arias.

A key member of the story to this day is Berto Varillas. Master bagpiper, stupendous singer and master builder of bagpipes. Co-leader of The Asturian Mining Company and her younger cousin astura. And many other things, although the most important thing on the list is his status as a friend and brother. The Asturiana Mining Company has a long history of popular songs such as The Wine Commandments, Crib Martyrs or Que M'Escurez, all sung by Berto. Today he is one of the protagonists of the first road, a concert dedicated to the songs found throughout the geography and history of the Camino de Santiago.

In 2007-08 two names from Anabel Santiago's list of projects join Wolfe to complete a recording dedicated to the songs of woody guthrie. Maraya Zydeco on accordion and Manuel Cordero on percussion participate in this completely live recording. The idea came from the Catalan jazz promoter Josep Ramon Jove.

Jove was, frankly, one of the few important figures in music outside of Asturias who captured Wolfe's American music and the love story hidden in the lyrics from the beginning. The result is Woody Guthrie Revisited and it looks like it was recorded in a Kentucky barn in the 1950s. That was the idea. With the essence of Woody and the essence of Woody's contribution to rock and roll, which was to incorporate politics and protest into popular music. Wolfe's version of Pastures of Plenty it is widely praised and Jove considers this to be Wolfe's best record.

Wait a second… there is a side project that is praised by many of the best jazz artists in Spain. Xota Pa Three is a mostly live recording made by by Miguel, Wolfe and Quintana. That is to say, Jacobo de Miguel, Michael Lee Wolfe and Mapi Quintana. this is maybe Raquel Mónica's favorite recording, his wife. Jazz for non-jazz lovers. Unfortunately, the project did not last long. However, the recording is a gem and includes a version of Mapi singing a Wolfe arrangement of I Ain't Got No Home by Woody Guthrie, sung in Asturian and translated by Ismael Arias. Puri Penin he is in the studio when I Ain't Got No Home is being recorded. In Asturian, it is I lost my house. Puri did it. In just one take. He still cries when he thinks about it.

But Penin has another favorite Wolfe album: Asturias Bluegrass Sessions. A collection of old classics from more rural America, the CD includes the mind-bending banjo of Angel Ruiz and the legendary chromatic harmonica of Antonio Serrano, as well as the double bass and the voice of the international veteran Daniel Casielles. It is also the first time Maraya Zydeco records American roots music, blues and more.

So suddenly this story is already 20 years old. The Asturian Mining Company wins the Asturian award for Song of the Year, with If You Never Know Val.louta.

The Blues Rangers they turn pink because the lineup becomes an all-female band except for Wolfe. Wolfe's lyrics become more poetic, more traveling and with a western metaphor that symbolizes enough to advise that it is better to listen than to explain. Songs like Señoritas, Camioneros and Woody Guthrie, The Mexican Girls, Somewhere Unfamiliar or She Had Your Eyes they are the story of Wolfe and his imagination, fueled by many years of living as an expat.

AND Maraya Zydeco (real name, Maria Alvarez) transitions from an acoustic blues and folk duo to a full-blown electric blues and zydeco quartet. Maraya is often compared to Superman. A mother, a high school teacher, a busy woman…it's like she stepped out of a phone booth at night and turned into a super blueswoman who continues to captivate audiences everywhere. Maraya has been a big part of this story. It's much easier and shorter to list the recordings he's not on because his tasteful, powerful melodies grace nearly every Michael Lee Wolfe recording in the 21st century. Take a look at Cajun Food and Creole, Love, Never Been to Memphis or Lost Out in the Desert. And to know the latest recordings, check the page of News on this website.

It was mentioned that Puri Penin's favorite Wolfey album is Asturias Bluegrass Sessions. It could be because she's a great country singer who really knows this music. It's a bit strange to be a Galician woman but it's true. Puri sings in a high, clear country voice halfway between Dolly Parton and Gillian Welch. And his long love affair with the music of Neil Young she has given her voice the necessary edge to convey the emotion of great American roots music, beyond just being another beautiful singer. Penin and Wolfe have performed and recorded as Hoot and Holler since 2016. They play hits and classics as well as many songs you don't know but would love. The guitars follow a very compact arrangement, between Puri's high-cajo acoustic and Wolfe's baritone guitar. And the spirit of Woody Guthrie lives on in his frequent performance of Los Gatos Canyon.

Which brings us back to the promoter of Catalan jazz Josep Ramon Jove. In 2021, Jove starts another project with Wolfe that compared Wolfe to the best Catalan jazz players Roger Gutierrez, Ignasi Gonzales and Gerard Moragues. Among several concerts that they give, their impressive performance in the Jazzfest, in Granada. But the secret to his success is having Maraya Zydeco as a guest artist in the band.

40 years of making music and love in Spain have provided fertile ground for Michael Lee Wolfe to make music about where he came from and where he ended up as an artist, husband and father. As the end of his song says Hollywood movies:

"An American will try to turn what he has seen into a Hollywood movie."