Folksinger Katie Lee Brings her Bittersweet Message To Local Audiences. By Leo Banks ARIZONA'S OWN KATIE Lee was probably America's best-known female folk singer in the early 1960s. Before that she worked in Hollywood as an actress on some of the first TV shows ever made. In spite of that success, and the promise of more, Lee quit Hollywood after discovering Glen Canyon, which corkscrews through 170 miles of southern Utah into northern Arizona along the Colorado River. Lee, now 79, was introduced to the Colorado in 1953, when she became only the third woman in history to run all of its rapids through the Grand Canyon. The following year she ran the river through Glen, and returned 15 times over the next 10 years, often paying for her trips by singing folk songs for tourists. Today, Glen Canyon lies hidden beneath Lake Powell, formed with the completion of Glen Canyon Dam in the early 1960s. Lee has been raging at the destruction of her Eden ever since--in songs, public readings and in her book. In her performances, she reads passages from All My Rivers Are Gone, then sings songs she wrote about Glen Canyon that relate to those passages. Lee's message is both personal and public. She describes what the river and the Canyon meant in her life, and discusses the importance of preserving such places. "Finding this spot after coming out of Hollywood, with its flashing lights, cameras and prepared speeches, then sitting by the river with my guitar and singing with the music of the water in the background, it was like entering a hidden paradise," explains Lee by phone from her home in Jerome. "The feeling seeped into my soul in a way that I can't forget. I can still see and smell it after all these years. We have to preserve these places or else we'll continue living on top of each other, like rats in a cage." She prefers performing before small audiences of between three and 50 people. "Intimacy is an important part of my act," says Lee. "I shouldn't stand up in front of thousands of people and try to act or sing. I don't have that kind of style. But I didn't know that until I heard my voice echoing back to me on the river, and boy did it echo back." Lee is pleased to see that her singing is attracting new, young fans. "Honey, I'm nearly 80 and I had no idea I could bridge this generation gap," she says. "But I have kids in their teens coming up to me with tears in their eyes afterward, saying, 'Why did they take Glen Canyon away from us?' I tell them that's the way the world is, and that you have to fight for everything that you get." Katie Lee will sing folk songs and read from her new book, All My Rivers Are Gone, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 12, at the Zenith Center, 330 E. Seventh St. The event is a benefit for the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity. Tickets are $7. Call 623-5252, ext. 303, for more information. Lee will also sign books from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, March 13, at the Foothills Mall Barnes & Noble, 7325 N. La Cholla Blvd. Call 742-6402 for information on the signing only.

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