Equal parts classic songwriter and modern-day storyteller, Gabe Lee has built his own bridge between country, folk, and rock. Lee has been collecting stories for years, both on stage and off.

“I used to bartend,” says the Nashville-based songwriter, “which means I was also a cheap therapist for whomever happened to be sitting on the barstool. Whether they were there to celebrate or drink away their problems, I heard about whatever they were going through. It was my job to have that face-to-face interaction—that connection. Being a full-time musician isn’t much different.”

With critically-acclaimed albums like 2019’s farmland, 2020’s Honky-Tonk Hell, and 2022’s The Hometown Kid, Lee created that connection by delivering his own stories to an ever-growing audience. His fourth record, Drink the River, takes a different approach. This time, Lee isn’t offering listeners a peek into his internal world; he’s holding up a mirror to reflect their own.