Having played guitar in Steve Hackett’s band since 2009, Amanda Lehmann is a well-known figure in prog circles these days. But the journey started a long time ago, and her debut album Innocence And Illusion draws on music, magic and memories from her past. Prog catches up with her to find out more.

Words: Jo Kendall

Images: Dave Abbott

When Amanda Lehmann was a little girl, she’d hear her father playing violin, just for fun. Living in the seaside resort of Seaford in Sussex, classical music was the soundtrack in the family house and she, her older sister Jo and their mother were all appreciators Although Victor Lehmann would perform small shows, he’d not pursued music vocationally; he was a teacher, of maths, English and, later, liberal studies.

“He wanted to go to music college,” Lehmann explains, one overcast August morning over Zoom, “but he didn’t in the end. For him, there was always a regret that he didn’t take it to a professional level, because his heart was in it.”

Victor is mentioned as a musical influence in the sleeve notes for Lehmann’s debut solo record, Innocence And Illusion, an independently released 10-tracker that takes in prog, jazz, folk, blues and AOR. It’s been over a decade in the making, but finally realised and completed in the last two years – why on earth did it take so long?