Hailing from the tiny blue-collar town of LaGrange, GA, Philmon Lee emanates raw soul without a filter and a whole lot of fire. As a kid, he learned piano, guitar, and drums and even toured with pops. Putting his head down and adopting the blue collar work ethic of his hometown, he devoted years to tirelessly honing his voice and drew inspiration from Elvis Presley, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Post Malone, Lewis Capaldi, Sam Smith, Elton John, and Steven Tyler, to name a few. Eventually, he captivated both Against Da Grain Entertainment and Epic Records, landing him a record deal. His voice will resound throughout 2020 and beyond.
The LaGrange, GA native just released his collaboration with Lindsay Sterling, “No Saving Me”.
Hi Philmon and welcome to OLC! It’s an absolute pleasure to have you here. So tell me where did this passion and love for music begin?
The passion for my music started while being on the tour bus with my dad, and watching him tour at an early age.
How much did your home town of LaGrange, Georgia influence your style of music growing up?
My hometown was a big influence. I had a lot of support. Lagrange is also full of amazing musicians.
Who were some of your biggest inspirations and what was it about those artists you loved?
I love Elvis Presley. His charismatic personality on stage was amazing. His voice was so unique.
You are now signed to one of the biggest record labels in the world Epic Records, how were you discovered by them?
I was discovered by Fly Ty at Against The Grain Entertainment. I signed with him, and made some songs and he reached out to Ezekiel Lewis at Epic Records, and they wanted to sign me! So we flew out and I met Sylvia Rhone and Ezekiel Lewis. The rest is history!
Now you are a part of a label, what’s the next milestone in your career you hope to achieve?
Now that I’m signed I think the only thing on my mind really is performing live in front of a big crowd. I can’t wait to get that adrenaline rush.
You have a new song out with Lindsay Sterling called “No Saving Me”, what inspired that song and how did your collaboration with Lindsay come about?
After I signed with Epic, I also signed with Greg Thompson to become my manager. He reached out to Lindsey, and asked her would she be willing to do it. She agreed and the rest was history. The song has a really deep meaning about my past, thinking no one could help me, even though there were people willing to help.
Who’s someone you would love to work with and why?
I would love to work with Post Malone. His unique voice, and he has a good personality. He’s extremely talented and I think it would be awesome to collaborate with him.
I love your song “Memories”, what inspired that song for you and how did the idea for the music video come about?
“Memories” is based off the good and bad ones we have in our mind. We can use these memories to make us better people. The music video idea was presented to us by the label and once we heard the idea for the video, I personally couldn’t turn it away.
“Sunflower” is another song for you, who was that song produced by?
The song was produced by Lil Ronnie and his team. It was a very fun process with that song
We are obviously in a crazy pandemic at the moment, is life around you starting to return to some normalcy at the moment?
Life pandemic life is not the best, but my life is slowly coming back to normal, which I love because I love staying busy.
Can we expect more music on the horizon for you soon – maybe an album even?
Next year we’ll have an exciting album for everyone!
Thanks for your time, but before we go is there anything you’d like to say to everyone out in OLC world?
Yes, for sure. I know this sounds very cliché, however if you really want something in life you got to be willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen. Learn that the word “NO” is the best thing for you. It makes you go harder, and makes you a better person.