Cactus Lee, a firm favourite of the Austin honky-tonk scene, are getting ready to venture across the pond, starting their European tour in London at The Lexington, 21st February. From there they will sing across Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden. Not only will they be treating us to the Austin-cool approach to honky-tonk, they’ll also be debuting the new album, Lee’s Dream, which is set for general release 10th April, but will have its vinyl release at the London show. So, if anyone wants to experience the Austin nightlife, this is not a show to miss.
A musical project created by singer-songwriter-musician Kevin Dehan, Cactus Lee is perhaps best described as the sound of Austin. Genre blurring country with indie, various sixties and seventies influences, psychedelia, folk, cosmic cowboy, rock and roll and Texan storytelling, all with an overriding sense of Western cool. Not too dissimilar from the project’s name, a hybrid of humourist and radio host Cactus Pryor and Lee Jeans, both chosen just because Kevin thought they were cool. And he was right.
When we spoke, Kevin had been busy with the logistics side of the tour. Twelve dates and five countries have ensured plenty of lovely logistical work for Kevin. “We’re just nailing down all those little details, and I don’t know, it just starts moving really fast and I have to stay on top of it, or it will get stressful.” But there had been fun tasks that day too, like talking to Trip Westerns, who will be opening on the London date. “I’m excited, it’s gonna be fun to go over there, I’m ready to just think about playing the shows and just doing the music part, that’s the best part.”
Kevin is looking forward to his London return, and though it’s been a while, his last visit here was quite the pivotal one for his music. “When I toured there, that was 2011 and 13, I got more into, just being over there made me like, ‘oh I want to be in a Texas band,’” he explains. “I was just like I wanna play in like the honky-tonk thing, which is just natural to me.” How very Jerry Jeff Walker and his ‘London Homesick Blues.’
He’s also intrigued to see our booming country and honky-tonk scenes. “It’s cool to see that that has actually spread, so I’m really interested to see what that looks like over there, because I’ve seen it go to New York, it’s gone to LA, Chicago has a really big kind of honky-tonk scene, but each one is a little different, everyone does it a little different, and I think it, all around it’s always cool because it’s welcoming.”
“Are people dancing at the shows?” he asks, something that is customary in the Austin honky-tonks. While it might not be quite the norm here just yet, we could always give it a go, make Cactus Lee feel at home. They are Austin dancefloor favourites after all, so it’d be rude not to give it a whirl.
The two-step scene in Kevin’s native Austin is an integral part of the city’s honky-tonk culture. The relationship between dancer and musician is symbiotic, and a great, yet sometimes brutal, way for musicians to find out if a song works or not. Something of which Cactus Lee knows all too well.
“When I first started playing at Sam’s I could get people to dance to some of the songs, and then I would start intentionally playing weirder songs to see if they would dance to it, and then they would and I thought that was fun, and then there were certain ones where they would all just go sit down,” laughs Kevin. “So, I kind of at some point gave up on that. I was like I should just try and play to the dancers.”
For those who have never experienced the Austin dance culture, to dance with a different stranger for three to five minutes at a time is a beautiful and expressive way to enjoy live music and is something the musicians there are proud of. “Socially I’ve seen it has this really healthy thing for a lot of younger and older and just everyone, so it’s special, it’s really cool.”
Although it was surprising to learn that the musicians can see everything that’s played out on the dancefloor before them. “It’s fun to be singing and performing and looking out and be like, “Oh there’s that guy,’ then you’ll see people dancing with other people and sometimes you’re like, ‘ooh okay, cool,’” while I couldn’t see Kevin, I’m certain this was said with a wink and a smile. From the flirtations to the peacocking, Kevin can see it all and he’s here for it, so don’t let this insight stop you.
However, the biggest, and most important impact the dancers have on the artists, and in turn on the “Austin sound,” is that the music must be two-steppable. Which is why Cactus Lee’s sound is a little tricky to describe, because while they’re a dancefloor favourite, a lot of the songs are less danceable on the albums. “I started trying to do different sounds when I recorded, but then once I started playing it live, I just wanted to play more natural so people could dance,” he explains. “If I write a song on a record that is a little less danceable then when I play it live, I can just push it in that category.” Two songs for the price of one.
But with the upcoming album, Lee’s Dream, there’s no need for any live adjustments, as it is “an Austin love letter record.” With songs about Lonestar beer, the iconic Armadillo World Headquarters, alongside the sixties and seventies musical touches that the city loves, as well as following in the tradition of untraditional storytelling, just like fellow native (and adoptive) Texans Kris Kristofferson, Jerry Jeff Walker and mentor Ramsay Midwood (who also runs Sam’s Town Point, arguably the best bar in Austin).
Lee’s Dream, though more thoughtful than flashy, is made for the honky-tonks and dancefloors. It plays like a tapestry of Austin’s musical past and present bringing together the different sounds of the city and what makes the music scene there so unique and exciting. It was made for the dancehalls and dive bars that hold the city’s musical history, where you can smell the beer-stained floorboards, leather boots and dust from the eighties, and where friendly strangers ask for a dance. “I think this one will be more fun to play,” says Kevin. “The last one was a little more chill, so it wasn’t as danceable, this one is all danceable, so it’s more fun to play.”
Not only is Lee’s Dream Cactus Lee’s most two-steppable album, it’s also the most country, a lot of which is down to producer Billy Horton. Recorded at his Fort Horton Studios, where the likes of Charley Crockett and Theo Lawrence have cut records, Horton likes to keep things old school. “He does a really old school system where everyone’s in the same room, everyone does it at the same time, he uses old equipment, he doesn’t do modern, like a modern approach,” says Kevin. “And if you sign up to do it, you have to do it his way.”
Doing it the Billy Horton way can sometimes be quite physical. In ‘Easy Money’ Kevin wanted to nod to some of the quirkier sixties country songs with the clinks of a hammer hitting an anvil, but probably didn’t expect this to play out like a Saturday Night Live sketch:
“He went out and got an old anvil and a hammer and he made me hold it and do it, each hit, and I was sweating and he was like, ‘No, no,’ because he could’ve just gotten one hit and then added it, but he was like, ‘no, no, you’re gonna do it,’ and then he’d stop and go, ‘the third one, that one wasn’t good, do it again,’ and I was straining,” laughs Kevin. “But that kind of sums up how he does it, he’s like ‘do it the right way, do it how the old guys did it, even if it hurts.’”
Other than needing more anvil, Billy Horton was very influential with his encyclopaedic knowledge of music, using it to inspire and challenge Kevin. “He’d go, ‘what’s this song?’ and I was like, ‘this song is called ‘Bad Luck,’’ and he was like, ‘ugh I can think of like a hundred different ‘Bad Lucks.’” Bet he couldn’t find another song called ‘Dead Dillo’ though. “No! That’s damn right, he couldn’t!”
“That’s just how he is, he is just a music nerd. He likes to share his knowledge, which is cool, that’s what makes it fun.” This sharing of knowledge also included Horton encouraging Kevin to listen to the likes of John D. Loudermilk, George Hamilton IV and Glen Campbell.” Whether it was production or song writing, those were things that he kind of without telling me what to do, he was like ‘you should get into this because that’s where your niche is.’” Through this musical guidance and old school production you can feel in the album that there’s this glowing, vintage richness to it.
For those of you who aren’t well-versed in the music of Cactus Lee, a deep dive is highly recommended. Especially if you like your country music to defy rigid genre lines, as well as following in the vein of progressive country storytelling. Something of which is important to Kevin, and is why ever since he started out, he’s been looking to the likes of Ramsay Midwood and Kris Kristofferson for musical direction.
“There wasn’t as much lyric based stuff, which is why when I found Ramsay I was like I need to go hang out near that guy because his music is very lyrically strong. So, I thought if I could come up with something that was like half as good as whatever Kris Kristofferson was doing then that might be a good start,” he says. “It’s less that he was an influence, I mean like a musical influence and more of kind of like a direction.”
This is a tour and album from a band to be excited about. If you’ve ever wanted to experience the live music culture of Austin, and to see what sets it apart from other cities, this is the gig to go to. Cactus Lee represents their city perfectly, so polish your dancing boots and get ready to get lost in some great, two-steppable storytelling.
Cactus Lee’s European tour will be from 21st February to 7th March, with the vinyl release of Lee’s Dream being 21st February, and general release 10th April. If you can’t wait that long, I recommend playing the eponymous album, Cactus Lee, 2025 on repeat.
