Kinsey Lee Doesn’t Make Hot Tracks, She Makes Cold Cuts

“I’ve been collaborating since I was 19—now I’m 35,” Kinsey Lee tells me over the phone, with birds chirping in the distance. “I didn’t really understand where my collaborators started, and I ended.” She’s on a road trip, driving between Missoula and Bozeman for a family gathering, and pulled over at a quaint fishing spot to take my call—a telling insight into the way she juggles her music career, personal life, and multiple day jobs. As the Wild Reeds, Lee and her bandmates released three albums of harmony-filled, emotionally raw indie rock, folk, and alt-country that led them to tour with Lord Huron and Shakey Graves, along with a gig on NPR’s Tiny Desk and multiple KEXP studio sessions. When the band stopped touring at the end of 2019, Lee pursued a career as a flight attendant until she felt the urge to make music again. “I wanted to see what would happen if I got into the studio by myself,” says Lee. Her debut solo album, Cold Cuts, is the first thing she’s made and produced entirely on her own. “It’s almost like I’m hearing myself for the first time and realizing the influences I had in past collaborations.”

Cold Cuts is an amalgamation of Lee’s personal experiences: dissociating on airplanes, working in her family’s Italian deli, connecting to her ancestry, crafting costumes for Mardi Gras, soundtracking New Orleans hangouts, and finding slices of home at Italian community centers while living between LA, Seattle, and New Orleans. Sonically, I hear glimmers of Jenny Lewis, Sharon Van Etten, and Julia Jacklin. Like the aforementioned indie queens, Lee finds the perfect balance between authentic emotion and pop gloss. I chatted with Lee about inspirations for the new album, finding her voice, and how, as a musician, to play the long game.

How did you land on the album title Cold Cuts? 
It’s kind of funny, because people will describe new music as “hot tracks” or “hot records,” and I’m talking about cold cuts. When I was touring with the Wild Reeds, we would come up with our alter-ego band names. Cold Cuts was something that I landed on, being that I’m a third-generation deli girl. My family has run an Italian deli called Old World Deli in Covina, CA, for over 50 years. I’ve worked there on and off since I was 15 because it allowed me the flexibility to tour. When I came back to the deli during the pandemic, I told my dad not to let me stay here too long. I have too much wanderlust after touring for 10 years.

I also read that you’re a flight attendant. What is that schedule like?
Maybe I should zoom out and explain what my game plan was. I was working at the deli, and my band stopped touring, so I was like, Oh shit, like what am I gonna do now after like 10 years of pursuing music? My mom’s best friend is a flight attendant, and she just made me put my résumé in to check it out. I got the job. Once I started doing it, I realized how much like touring it is. It came pretty naturally to me. I work about 18 days out of the month, and there are seasons when I can take the whole month off—that’s when I’ll be costuming or potentially touring. It’s really nice to have these benefits that support my music career. I hope that in the future I can work part-time at the airline and part-time at a hotel, so that whenever I tour, I will have flights and a place to stay. 

Wow, that is kind of genius… you’re playing the long game!
Yeah, I’ll let you know when it all works out! [Laughs]. Right now, it’s pretty physically and emotionally grueling. Coming from a family with a restaurant, I think my work ethic is pretty strong. I’ve always kept a job, and I always encourage other musicians to do the same. We need that other side of our brains to be moving so that the creative side can breathe. 

What made you decide to pursue a solo music career?
When the Wild Reeds decided to stop touring at the end of 2019, it was unexpected. I began playing solo from a place of necessity, much like when I began making music. I started playing guitar when I was 18 years old, because I had a falling-out with the guitarist I used to sing with. I didn’t want to depend on other people to make the music I wanted to make.

In the last couple of years, I’ve worked a lot on my solo performance. It gets a little boring sometimes, playing solo with a guitar. Being in New Orleans is kind of like a songwriter’s boot camp, because people see live music to party and hang out. You have to learn how to read the room and how to feed people in the way that they need. Not everyone is going to pay attention to lyrics, but everyone is going to notice how the music makes them feel… that really influenced my record as well.

Can you share some more influences and inspirations for the record?
I was inspired by the limitations and forced loneliness of the pandemic, my Casio SA-1, and my little synthesizer. Sonically, my influences were Blake Mills, Jolie Holland, Sharon Van Etten, and Duff Thompson. Lyrically, and spiritually, I was influenced by Lucinda Williams, Carole King, Esther Rose, my grandparents, unexpected change, my exes… [Laughs].

Did your grandparents make music?
No, my grandparents didn’t make music, but I’m a family history nerd, and my ancestry means a lot to me. I was actually with my grandpa just last night and talking to him about how my wisdom comes from—not to brag—having three out of four grandparents at 35 years old and still having intimate, beautiful relationships with elders. My grandma passed away in April of 2020, and she is one of my biggest inspirations. I continue to connect with my ancestry because I miss her.

Can you tell me more about the album artwork for Cold Cuts?
When I moved to New Orleans, I joined a group of Italians and Sicilians. Even though Louisiana was so far away from my hometown in California, spaces like the Italian American Bocce Club—with the plastic tables and chairs and fluorescent lights—made me feel at home. Every time I’m there, I try to take a mental photo, so for the cover photo shoot, I wanted to do it at the Bocce Club. 

I also read that you live part-time on a sailboat. What is that like?
It’s a real treat. My fiancé has lived on his sailboat for 10 years, and I moved in with him a year ago—we split time between New Orleans and Seattle. The thing about being a flight attendant is that my work environment is very unnatural, and I’m breathing recycled air all the time, and trying to disassociate the fact that I’m 40,000 feet in the air. So, when I come home, it’s so grounding to get back on the water after I’ve been in the sky all day.

Do you have any advice for other artists who want to self-release their music?
It’s a lot of work out of passion, and it’s often tiring. You have to think of the long game. Most performers book their shows more than three months out these days, and it can be really hard to get a gig unless you’re thinking far down the line. Plus, so many venues have closed since the pandemic, and so many of my musical connections from my previous career have moved on, changed careers, or left the music industry. I kind of feel like I’m starting from square one. I started touring when I was 19, and it was just “go, go, go,” all the time. Coming at it as a 35-year-old, I’m like, yeah, I want to tour again, but I want to tour smart. I can’t afford to tour without a strategy, especially considering gas prices. That’s part of the reason why flying has been a huge asset in my life.

Where do you see your solo career headed? 
My goal is to have a balanced life. I want to be able to offer songs that help people—because they help me, and that’s why I write them. I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback on my first two singles, with people saying how relatable they are. If I can lend a soundtrack to someone who’s going through something, or give them a mantra to help them, as I’ve been helped with music before, that’s what I want to give. I see myself recording more music and touring within reason. But I won’t prioritize killing myself to make music my only career anymore—that’s why I have a job with benefits that can support me when I am sick, get hurt, or when I need time off from work. My goal is to have a balanced life and to keep music a part of it.

I don’t want myself or my friends to die for music anymore. With the Wild Reeds, we talked about that a lot. I think there was a lot of respect and acceptance built during the pandemic, when artists would just say, “Hey, man, I really need a break. I’m sorry to cancel my tour, but I’m sick, or I need a mental break.” Although it was a rough period for the music industry, there has been some positive growth in how we treat our artists and what we expect of them.

Kinsey Lee’s self-released debut album, Cold Cuts, is out today, June 12. See her with the Lostines and Sequoia at the Sunset Tavern on July 19, 7:30 pm, 21+.

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