Wisconsin Blues Legend Bryan Lee Dies

Just got the sad news that Wisconsin blues legend Bryan Lee (the Braille Blues Daddy) has died in Florida. Dude got a ride out of Two Rivers and made himself a career of guitar slinging, singing and sharing the blues around the world and, it seemed, forever in New Orleans.
I first saw Bryan at the old Union Bar in Nordeast Minneapolis (yeah, that’s how we say it) in 1978 or ‘79. I think I was only 17 at the time. I had sneaked in to see the Downchild Blues Band from Canada but was immediately smitten by the blind opening act who claimed to be Bryan Lee from Milwaukee. I already really liked the blues but he was the first “real” blues guy I ever saw in a club. He just ripped it and blew away the headliner.
A few years later, while on a short college jaunt to New Orleans, I heard some wicked blues wafting from a bar so we walked in and damn, it was Bryan. I found out years later that it was his regular gig at the Old Absinthe. After college
I moved to Appleton and soon learned that he was from Two Rivers. I saw Bryan a couple of times locally, had some good times chatting it up and later got his life story out of him for a radio blues show I hosted.
I also got a kick out of a discussion in Green Bay once with Kenny Wayne Shepherd on one of his first tours. He knew he was in the neighborhood of Bryan’s roots and we shared our love of his playing. Kenny, of course, was mentored by Bryan and he seemed super grateful and gracious about the lessons and opportunities he was afforded by it. It spoke to Bryan’s insistence that he always share the blues fully. He sure did with KWS.
It seems I was destined to have Bryan Lee woven through much of my life and I’m lucky and appreciative to have had the happenstance. We weren’t close friends but I did know him well enough to tell you he was a fine fellow and we got along swell. He was a short guy and a really good blues man in general. But he was kind of a giant to me.
Play on, brother Bryan.