I have been a fan of Lee’s for a decade or more, and have always been impressed not only by his vocals and guitar work but also his showmanship. He always plays the guitar with his teeth, tongue and the leg of a raised chair during at least one or two songs when he performs.

The tongue thing came a little bit later after I saw Little Joe Washington do it,” Lee continues. “And I thought if I’m going to steal his shtick, I’ve gotta take it further. Little Joe — bless his soul — he used to slide his tongue on the strings, but I thought if I fooled around with it enough, maybe I can pick with my tongue, and so I learned to do that because I wanted to take it a little bit further. But the credit for that goes to Little Joe Washington. From watching him do it, he inspired me to do it.”

Lee says he doesn’t remember how playing with a chair came about, but says he did start doing it early on; certain pieces of furniture lend themselves better than others, he adds, so he has to choose wisely “to not look like an idiot.” Trying to pick up something too heavy could lead to disaster, but Lee has always pulled it off in a cool manner when I have seen him perform, including last week.

I don’t wish to mislead anyone into thinking that Lee is not a solid blues musician. The stage antics are a part of the show, but the main focus is the music. At the Hideaway, the band played some classic blues songs originally recorded by B.B. King, Freddie King, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Stevie Ray Vaughan and others, as well as several Lee originals, such as “(I’m a) Lover Man,” “Baby, Please,” “Something Smells Fishy” and most notably “If the Blues Is Playing What You’re Feeling (Even a Chinese Man Can Play the Blues).”

“I’ve never been and never will be a flashy guitar player, but that never really was my impetus for playing the blues,” Lee explains. “I’ve always thought the blues was a storytelling medium. So I’ve tried to make sure that I understand the words, the feeling and emotion being conveyed through the lyrics and try to present that through my singing.”