Fulton Lee
How am I only discovering Fulton Lee ?! I LOVE his music !!
He recently released his latest single “White Skates” and it’s a banger. With the help of August Pappas, Jake Schweinsberg and Pete Eddins, the Nashville-based artist released a colorful single combining soul, funky and disco.
With a very unique tone and a distinctive sound, Fulton Lee is painting feel good songs that will make us dance.
“White Skates” is now available worldwide :)
Introduce yourself - what's your story?
Hi! I’m Fulton Lee, I’m a indie-pop-soul artist based in Nashville, TN! I moved to Nashville about 6 years ago after high school to pursue a career as an artist. Shortly after arriving, I developed a brand/sound based around 1950’s doo-wop and soul music. Little Richard, James Brown, Buddy Holly were all big influences. I started writing songs inspired by that ear and performed around Nashville in that throwback Jerry Lee Lewis style - suspenders, high water pants, and leg twists. In 2017 I met some band members who became a part of my writing and production process, together we recorded an EP called Baby Blue which came out in 2018. We had some good success from that project and over the past 4 years we’ve released 10 additional singles - altogether accruing over 4 million streams. Since then we’ve also performed at places like the Chicago House of Blues and Marathon Music Works in Nashville, and we won Nashville’s Music City Mayhem battle of the bands tournament in 2020 which has earned us a spot on the famous Live On The Green festival this fall (2022)! Now it feels like we’re ready to take the next step in our career, so 6 months ago we ran a crowdsourced fundraiser and raised over $20k to fund our debut album, which will come out this year. The lead single from the album is White Skates which came out a few days ago!
What did you grow up listening to?
Until I was about 14, I listened to alot of classic rock and 90s/2000s country! My dad was big into Lynard Skynard, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, etc. My mom was pretty into Shania Twain, Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney. My dad also had a love for bluegrass music, so I heard alot of that too. I also remember hearing alot of early Maroon 5 and Jason Mraz around that time too.
Once I started to discover music on my own in my teen years, I first gravitated to Green Day, Blink 182, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, but then in later years I progressed into artists like The Beatles, Radiohead, the Punch Brothers, The Alabama Shakes, John Mayer, Neutral Milk Hotel. Around 18 I became obsessed with Motown-like artists like Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, The Supremes, etc.
When did you start making music? What was the biggest challenge when you first started?
I started getting really into guitar playing around 14 years old. My dad was in a cover band and he taught me how to play. I became pretty obsessed pretty quickly. I took my guitar everywhere and practiced with the metronome on my iPod touch. Shortly after I became competent, I joined my dad’s band of 3 middle aged men. We played various bars around Northern VA. It was a great time, but definitely came with its challenges. Navigating band dynamics as a 14/15 y/o with 3 grown adults was interesting, but was a truly great training ground and taught me a tremendous amount about collaboration from a young age.
When did you know you were good at what you were doing?
After a while playing rhythm guitar in my dad’s band, I started to take over lead vocals on certain songs. People would very passionately compliment my voice and stage presence after a lot of those shows. That’s when I started to really believe that I had talent. My dad also saw that in me from very early on and always encouraged me and told me I could be great.
What gave you the confidence to be an artist and release your original music?
My dad’s belief in me was a huge influence on my confidence. From early on he always believed that I could have significant success as an artist. Throughout high school as I started to perform more on my own, developed my own band, and started writing my own songs, he was always very honest with me. He would give me sincere critiques and we would have honest talks about my future, and in those conversations he would always tell me he truly believed I had what it took to achieve real success as an artist.
What biggest lessons have you learned since the beginning of your career?
Consistency is key! I’ve learned that it’s so important to always have something new on the docket ready to be released or ready to happen. Whether that’s a new song or a new video or a new tour or new merch or whatever. I think momentum is a huge part of what creates success as an artist and constant “happenings” in your brand is how to do it. Consistent new music obviously is the most important.
"White Skates" is your latest single - what's the story/inspiration behind this song?
White Skates tells the story of a high school nerd who is secretly a disco roller-skater. He gets picked on and beat up a lot at school but when he goes to the roller rink at night (away from all his peers and classmates), he’s the king, has all the swag, people admire him and his mysterious charm. He’s living double life. One day, after getting bullied at school, he finally challenges his enemy to a skating race at school. Our hero wins and the whole school sees his disco swag for the first time. He wins over the school and they all live happily ever after … except for the bully.
For me, this story is all about trusting that magic spark within you and not suppressing it, questioning it, or hiding it. It’s about being yourself and living out the truth you believe in no matter what anyone feels about it, who’s gonna laugh at you, or who is uncomfortable with it. At the end of the day, we’re all just nerds with an inner disco deep in our spirits. White Skates is about setting the disco free!
Could you describe the songwriting/production process for this song? Who helped you create it?
I had made the demo for this track about 4 years ago - it was just a scrappy loop of drums, keys, and bass with a wordless vocal melody overtop. I liked it but I didn’t think it was quite strong enough. I lived with it for about 2 years and showed some people, everyone really liked the sketch of it. Then in 2020, my bandmates August Pappas and Jake Schweinsberg put down the Funk guitar and drums that you hear now in the chorus and that changed the whole identity of the song for me. I went back and wrote a different chorus melody over the new instrumental they had put down and that’s when the song really came to life. A few months later we went into Dark Horse Studios in Nashville and tracked the parts for the song. We put those tracks together and tweaked the arrangement and mix for almost 9 months, we added a lot of synth layers and new BGVs and guitar tracks, but we never felt like the arrangement was reaching the quality level it needed to. Then we took it to my friend/producer, Pete Eddins, and he helped us find the right arrangement and mix that really polished the song off and made us feel like it was everything it needed to be!
What's your favorite thing about this song?
The energy!! It’s smooth yet aggressive. It flows but it’s funky. To me it feels like you’re getting punched in the face by soft velvet gloves. I love how the chorus “explodes” without a big crash or sparkling shatter type of sound. It’s just those funky guitars and falsetto vocals the makes the chorus pop. I think that’s a pretty hard thing to do and I feel pretty stoked that we pulled it off (IMO).
What can you tell us about the music video?
The video is a slight variation on the story told in the lyrics of the song. It’s about a high school nerd who has a magical pair of white shoes/skates that transforms him into a disco star. After getting picked on, he puts on his magic shoes and receives a swag that overwhelms the whole arcade he’s been hanging out in. Then he meets a bully who has his own pair of magic BLACK shoes/skates that gives him his own evil swaggy-power. The two have a dance battle to settle the score and our disco star emerges victorious.
The moral/meaning behind the video is very similar the song lyrics. The nerd/disco character and the bully character are both played by myself. It speaks to my experience of inner conflict at times between standing up for what I believe in and appeasing the people around me. There have been people in my life and voices in my head that have tried to discourage me from living the kind of life that is most true to me. This includes topics like my faith as a Christian person, or even my choice to pursue a career as a music artist while being a young father (I have a wife and a 1.5 y/o daughter). I’ve had to hold on to the belief that it’s my duty to pursue and stand for the things I believe in. I can’t compromise to appease the fears or judgements of other people. I can’t deny my inner disco! That’s largely what the video is about.
As an artist, what is the hardest part? And what is the best part?
The hardest part is making money! Lol, it’s funny but its true. You spend countless unpaid hours as an artist, there’s so much that goes into every little piece of the process from emails to promotion to social media to planning photo shoots and videos to planning shows and events to collaborating with other artists to networking to practicing your actual craft to sitting and writing to finding the right people to produce and mix, etc. It takes an immense amount of time that will hopefully earn you a healthy compensation somewhere down the line.
But the best part is that all of that stuff is in your blood! If you’re an artist, you have no choice but to create art and do whatever it takes to give that art a chance to touch people. It’s simply what you do. You can’t just say no to the creative energy inside you without dying a little. For all the unpaid hours, I wouldn’t trade it for anything, it’s just what I was built to do. I’m a square peg in a square whole and I’m so grateful!
What are your thoughts on today's music industry? If you could change one thing, what would it be?
I know the state of the music industry gets alot of hate, but I honestly am pretty excited about it. I know that streaming services don’t pay much and that every artist in the world has to try and blow up on Tik Tok in order for anyone to pay attention to them, BUT, at least streaming services and Tik Tok actually give you the opportunity to get your music in front of new people who will like it! That’s never existed before in history. Until like 10 years ago, it was nearly impossible to get your recorded music in front of potential fans. You had to burn it onto a disc or put it on a flash drive and show people that way. The gatekeepers were wayyyy more out of reach than they are now. Now ANYONE can upload a song to Spotify and promote it on Tik Tok and they actually have a chance for people to find it! That’s such a huge miracle.
I really don’t know if I could come up with anything I’d like to change. It seems like the whole music industry is just in one giant game of “please the algorithm”, and as much as that kind of kills your soul, I think the algorithm is pretty darn smart and unbiased. I think it truly does reward content/music that people like the most. It’s just a really direct and transparent form of competition, and that’s scary and unforgiving but we’re always gonna have competition no matter what the system is, so I don’t really know what should change! I understand that labels and industry giants gate keep a lot of the big playlists and stuff, but it’s always been that way. It seems that the system is giving the little guy a chance now more than ever.
What is the proudest moment of your career so far?
When we won the Nashville battle of the bands competition, Music City Mayhem. Typically the last few rounds of this tournament are decided by a live crowd at a live show, but this was in the thick of 2020, so it was all decided through online voting. We racked up around 2,400 votes in about 15 hours to win the final round. The amount of insane support from fans, friends, family, strangers was unbelievable. It really showed me how much people believe in this project and want to see it have success. It showed me that it’s impacted people’s lives and that’s what means the most to me.
What advice would you give to artists out there?
Collaborate constantly! Bring other artists, writers, producers, etc. into your writing and recording process. You don’t have to expect to create something that aligns perfectly with your artist vision, but the relationships you’ll build and the lessons you’ll learn will be invaluable. Sometimes the difference between a really productive artist that releases great music and content all the time and an artist that doesn’t have a lot going on, is one of them knows people that can bring their vision to life. Finding the right producer or bandmates or photographer can be such a huge deal. The greatest songwriter in the world can’t release his music on Spotify if he doesn’t know how to record it, arrange it, and mix it properly. Find people you vibe with that can fill those gaps for you and be a team.
In your opinion, what would make the world a better place?
Jesus!! Lol, faith is a big part of my life. I’m definitely not one to shove it down anyone’s throat or see people who believe differently from me as wrong or less than by any means; all I know is the seismic shift I’ve experienced in my own life as a result of growing in my faith. I don’t have the answer for what would make the world a better place, all I know is what’s made my world a better place, and I think it will take each individual finding that same shift for themselves in order for any positive change to occur. I think macro change occurs as a result of millions of micro individual changes.
What message do you want to give to the world?
Seek the truth! Seek it everywhere. Seek it in your family and in your work and in yourself and in the world. Don’t settle.
Connect with Fulton: