Lee Performing with John Prine was "surreal."

Since releasing his first EP in 2003, singer-songwriter Amos Lee has had a number of experiences that are the kinds of things most musicians wait a lifetime to experience. He toured both Europe and the States with Norah Jones, opened for Bob Dylan, and appeared on just about every late-night talk show that there is. But the highlight, so far, was sharing the stage with veteran folkie John Prine.

"The most surreal moment was playing John Prine's guitar when we were singing 'Paradise,'" Lee says via phone from a Toronto tour stop. "It would be like if you were a pothead and got high with Willie Nelson. My mom and stepdad were in the crowd at the show in Philadelphia. His whole people are really cool. I'm a huge fan, and he's a great guy."

Lee, who's just released Last Days at the Lodge, a stellar album of soul, R&B and rock that's the culmination of his short career, wasn't always so in touch with the roots of American rock 'n' roll. Growing up in Philadelphia, he listened to mostly hip-hop and R&B and confesses his first cassette was the Beastie Boys' magnum opus, Licensed to Ill. But then when he went south for college, he got a gig at a "really small record shop," and that opened his mind to all sorts of new things.

"You could bring anything home with you," he explains.

When he returned to Philly, he would hit the occasional open mic and eventually ended up at a friend's studio out in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.

"I sat in his studio for two months and all we did was play NHL 94 and make the record upstairs. It was the most fun I've ever had recording."

Eventually that self-released EP found its way over to Blue Note Records and impressed the higher-ups enough that they signed Lee to a deal.

"They wanted to make more than one record," he says of Blue Note. "I didn't consider the fact of having a hit. I just wanted to have a career."

Then came the European and US tours with Jones.

"Her crowd is a music-loving crowd," he says. "She's the best singer of the generation. If you like music, that's what you go see. So that was the perfect audience for me."

Produced by Don Was (Rolling Stones, Al Green), Lee's new album has a bit more of an edge to it, thanks in part to the fact that session guys like Doyle Bramhall Jr., Spooner Oldham and Pino Palladino all play on it. It's apparent from the opening track, "Listen," a tune that could pass for a Ben Harper song with its inspirational vocals about "angels falling" and other cataclysmic events, that Lee has upped the ante.

"I wrote that a while ago," he says of the tune. "I wrote that eight years ago. You can always see this stuff coming. It's pretty broad in its way. I was listening to [Dylan's] 'It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding).' I wrote it more in that way. It's a real simple song and boiled down to the essence."

While Lee won't say the album has a political bent to it, he admits it's probably informed by the social changes that seem imminent.

"It feels like to me everything in this country is getting a little tight," he says. "There's always change and everything is happening. But the focus needs to be tighter. Government is out of control. I think we have a lot of potential for coming together. So much in our lives pushes us away. By that I mean we get lost in the nooks and crannies of technology. We're the best and brightest. If we need to get something done, we can find a way to do it. I think there are possibilities."

Amos Lee: 7:30 p.m. Sunday, July 20 at House of Blues, 308 Euclid Ave. 216.241.5555. Tickets: $18.50 advance, $20 day of show.