Today we’d like to introduce you to Lee Jennings.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
The story of Lee Jennings more or less starts when I was 14 and started working/booking shows at Swayze’s Venue in Marietta. I became less and less interested in school and my first love, Musical Theater, and the idea of creating my own path and my own life within this “scene” community. After graduating high school and turning down opportunities to go to multiple schools for musical theatre, I decided to give the whole “band thing” one more super good try. After a few years of doing sold out shows in the suburbs, I decided to start bringing my band on weekend runs around the south-east. It was a slow build, but something was still missing from my life on the creative side, and I figured out that was recording bands. I started producing local acts full time to the point I had to stop working shows and my small mall job and took the studio full force. Then my life changed, even more, four years ago the band that I was developing, The Funeral Portrait, signed to a recorded label out of Raleigh, North Carolina called Revival Recordings. We started touring full time, and the studio took a back seat. I still was feeling like I needed to do something more for not just my own sanity but to also give back to this scene that I loved. So I started mentoring smaller bands and trying to show them the right ways of releasing music, recording at the right studios, working with the right people in the industry, so they don’t have to go through the years of pain that I have had to go through. I’m insanely “blessed” that I get to work with so many awesome artists and also get to explore the world with my own art!
Please tell us about your art.
I’m very lucky to do multiple things one is being my own imagineer with my band The Funeral Portrait. We are an emotional rock band from Atlanta that gets to tour the world about seven months out of the year. The other is what I like to call a “dream builder” at my company Ghost Kids Collective. I help smaller artist reach the same goals I have placed for myself, just hopefully in a shorter time span by helping them meet the right people and doing the work right the first time.
Choosing a creative or artistic path comes with many financial challenges. Any advice for those struggling to focus on their artwork due to financial concerns?
I think our community focuses way too much on money. If I were doing this for the money, I would’ve stopped ten years ago. I’ve been insanely blessed to have a very supportive family that has even let me build a studio in my garage. But all of that pushed aside I still have a van payment (so we can go on tour) and other bills to pay. What I tell every band I work with is it’s an investment. You invested the time to write the music and work on it now it’s time to invest with your wallet. In the end, it will be worth it, yeah you might not be able to get Starbucks every day, but those are the sacrifices you will have to make to think about your future.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
You can check out my band anywhere you stream music just type in The Funeral Portrait, and we will be the first thing that pops up. You can also check out my blog/studio page / mentoring info at ghostkidscollective.com
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ghostkidscollective.com
- Email: leejennings1@yahoo.com
- Instagram: @LeeJennings
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/leejenningsghost
- Twitter: @xLeeJenningsx
- Other: www.facebook.com/TheFuneralPortrait
Image Credit:
Photos by: Daniel Finkelstein
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