Blues guitarist Lee Gates was born in Mississippi sometime in the 1940s. As a first cousin to blues legend Albert Collins it seemed ordained that he would love the blues and become a blues artist. It’s easy to hear the family influence when Lee picks up his guitar and the music begins to flow. Lee moved to Milwaukee in 1959 and started playing at Wilson’s Club at 10th and Center Street with the house band. He stayed with the club for 15 years straight and has been treating fans in Milwaukee to his brand of down home blues for almost fifty years. Even though Lee and Albert both played the blues they never met until Lee was in his early 30s. Lee says it was due to his uncle living in Texas, “My daddy’s brother had a lot of kids out there in Texas. I never met them as a child, but we all knew of each other.” After he finally met his legendary cousin in 1974, he would show him around Milwaukee whenever Albert came to town and they would do some gigs together. He remembers those times as something special and said, “He was a good friend to me.” Even though Lee has performed his fluid style of music for 50 some years it has only been recently that he decided to record any of his music. In October 2003 he traveled to Alabama, spent three hours recording, pronounced the CD done, and gave the world the glorious tones of his magical guitar. Hopefully this will just be the start of a long and fruitful recording career. At the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival this year Lee will give his thirsty public a long and cool drink of his down home traditional blues.