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July 4th 2025
Nikki Blackburn
Photo credit: Kristin Barlowe
Backstage with: Lakelin Lemmings
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At just 19 years old, Lakelin Lemmings is one of the most exciting brand-new emerging artists in country music. Having recently signed a record deal with Stone Country Records, Lakelin – who’s been writing songs and playing guitar since she was 12 years old – is ready to take the industry by storm, starting with her debut single, American Dreamin’ which fuses 90s / 2000s country vibes with a contemporary melody that’s perfect for all you summer country playlists.
Nikki caught up with Lakelin to chat all about her journey to signing with Stone Country Records, her love of travel, coming from a big family, and her hopes for the rest of the year.
NB: It's nice to meet you. I enjoyed your set on Saturday night at Chief’s.
LL: Thank you. It's nice to meet you, too. That's awesome. I love CMA fest. It's always a good time getting to see all of the up and coming artists, but also some of the bigger artists too.
NB: Who's been your favourite artist that you've seen at a CMA Fest?
LL: Oh, I'm a big Cody Johnson fan, and I think he was at CMA two years ago at Nissan, and he brought out Reba McIntyre, and that made my whole year. I loved that. That was crazy.
NB: I saw that you’re a Reba fan. There's quite a few of the older, like traditional country, particularly female artists that you cite as some of your inspirations. I thought that was really cool. And you can hear that in your sound.
LL: Thank you. That's a big compliment.
NB: It was meant as one. I really did enjoy your set, like, until the press release came through. I didn't realize you were only 19 because you've got such a mature sound and a really nice tone to your voice. I didn't really know your music at all before I walked in, but I walked out a fan, genuinely.
LL: That means the world, thank you.
NB: Congrats on signing officially with Stone Country Records by the way. What does it mean to you? I know you've been writing and recording since you were about 12, so you've been doing this for a while, but you’ve found a home at Stone Country Records now.
LL: Signing with Stone Country means everything to me. Getting to do as a 19 year old is kind of unheard of. I'm very blessed, very fortunate to sign to such great people. It's very much a family environment, and they really care about me and my brand and they're not trying to change me or mould me, they just kind of let me be me, and let me do my own thing and support that. And it's great.
NB: That's really cool. I saw that you're really big on family, you’ve got a lot of siblings, was that element really important to you in deciding who to go with to progress your journey in the industry?
LL: Yes, I think so. There's a lot of big labels that, yes, it'd be nice to sign to, you know, like Big Machine, or Sony or whatever, but I feel like to have that family environment, and for them to care so much, you can get lost in the mix in bigger places. And I feel like they really care about their artists, and so that really stuck out to me, and I appreciate it.
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Pictured Top (L-R): Brown Sellers Brown’s Ash Bowers, Kendra Whitehead and Jason Sellers.
Pictured Bottom (L-R): Brown Seller Brown’s Benny Brown, and Lakelin Lemmings
Photo courtesy of Brown Sellers Brown/ Stone Country Records
NB: How was it for you, playing at Chiefs during CMA Fest?
LL: Getting to play during CMA Fest was like a dream come true. I'm still trying to recover from it. And just I posted pictures of from it yesterday, and I just I can't believe it happened. It was so awesome. And that was my first time ever playing with the full band. So that was super fun. I'm used to doing acoustic stuff. My dad would play guitar for me, or I’d sing with like tracks, which is kind of like advanced karaoke. So getting to sing with like a full band at CMA Fest was like mind blowing. It was so much fun.
NB: You're gearing up to release American Dreamin’. I really love it, and I saw in the press release that you'd said this song is the perfect introduction to you as an artist. Can you speak a little bit more about why you feel that song was the right one, and how it came to be?
LL: We had talked about, you know, what song we wanted to put out after we announced that I was on the label, and different stuff like that. And this one just stuck out, because not only is it perfect in times like Fourth of July and summer, but it's also the story of my life. It talks about growing up in the heartland and chasing my dreams and no matter how far I get, I'm still going to be that hometown touchdown Friday kind of girl. And so I thought it was a perfect song to kind of set the scene for my brand and for my journey. And it also sounds great, so that was fun little bonus.
NB: It does sound great, and you're definitely hitting the ground running; last week, you released your acoustic version of ‘Baby Daddy,’ and you mentioned that your dad's a country music musician - was he in a band called 45 South?
LL: You’ve done your research, yes, so my dad was in the band a couple years before I was born. He was actually in the band with Ash Bowers, who is now my producer and manager. And it's kind of full circle, because the reason my dad actually left the band is because I was gonna be born. So when I started singing and doing stuff he kind of got to live his dream with me and play guitar for me. So I thought, what a better way than to write a song for him?
NB: It’s such a sweet TikTok. Like, you could see all the emotions going across his face. How was that moment for you; playing it for him for the first time?
LL: It was definitely nerve wracking, because my dad loves music, but he's also a big critic of music. As a musician, everything has to kind of be perfect or he’ll notice, and it's a song about him, but he loved it, and as you can see in that video, he kind of got teary eyed, and it was just perfect. It got close to 4 million views, so it really helped open a lot of doors for me in Nashville. Helped me get my publishing deal, so, yeah, perfect moment.
NB: What's the best advice he's given you? As someone who's been in and around the music industry to help you navigate it now you're starting your own journey?
LL: I think the best advice he's given me is, be myself. Trust my gut. Don't trust people with everything, and kind of just keep my boots on the ground and keep going and don't let other people tear me down. He's definitely one of my biggest fans and supporters. So no matter what I do, he's there for me.
NB: Will he still play guitar for you here and there as you're going forward?
LL: Oh yeah, for sure. I think actually we might have a gig coming up where he's playing guitar for me.
NB: And he's got to do it at a cheaper rate, you've gotta get a family discount, right?
LL: Exactly!
NB: You said that video did a lot for you - but you are coming into this record deal with over 100,000 followers on TikTok - what do you think it is about you as an artist and your music that people hooked into when it was just you, your voice, guitar and TikTok?
LL: Ooh, I don't know. I guess it's kind of up to them to interpret, but I think that they sensed vulnerability and honest songwriting. And obviously the song that I came out with was about my dad, and so they got the sense of who I am and who raised me. I built my TikTok very organically. And I'll go live all the time and just talk with everybody and see what's going on, what they like, what they don't like. It's definitely like a friendship, and a family environment, even on my TikTok.
NB: You mentioned your publishing deal earlier - which you signed 2 years ago - how do you feel that you changed as an artist or how have you grown as an artist even in those two years?
LL: I've written a lot, because when I signed my publishing deal, I'd only been writing like consistently in Nashville for a couple months. I'd started writing in Nashville and writing songs when I was 12. They were just kind of here and there, whenever I got the inspiration. And then when I was 17 or 16, actually, I started kind of hitting the ground running and writing like multiple times a week with co-writers and different people. And I mean, just doing that, you grow a lot, and you learn things from other people and other co-writers, and you learn what you like and don't like and it was definitely a growing experience. I'm very thankful for it. I'm still learning today.
NB: Who were some of the songwriters that inspired you?
LL: Well, I guess I've kind of always looked up to more of the artists songwriters, so like Dolly Parton and Leanne Womack, Reba McIntyre. But some people in my co-writes, have actually written with Mikey Mobley, Neil Cody, Jimmy Melton, Tim Owens, those are some of my favourite people and co-writers. They've really helped me, and they've been like uncles almost in the music industry, and they'll steer me away from wrong things and steer me in the right direction, and support me and help me. They're the best.
NB: That's cool that you have that support around you already. What’s some of the music that you listen to outside of country? Obviously, you love country and that comes across in your music, in your lyrics, but your press release said that you listen to a lot of like 90s pop as well. Who's some of the pop artists that that you enjoy listening to or inspired by?
LL: Okay, funny story – it’ll tie into this, I promise – okay, so how my parents met was my dad was in the band playing at one of my hometown venues, Williams Auditorium, and my mom opened up for them as a Britney Spears impersonator.
NB: No way.
LL: Yes, and that's how they met, so Britney Spears is definitely an inspiration, coming from my mom. She's kind of one that loved hip hop. She loved like Backstreet Boys - she loved the boy bands and hip hop - so those kind of inspired me a little bit. And also growing up in the Disney Channel era, so like Miley Cyrus and Demi Lavato too.
NB: You can feel that vibe on American Dreamin’. I love that it’s got that 90s / 2000s country sound, but it does also feel like something that's very fresh and current. Was that kind of sound something that happened naturally, or was it something that you were specifically wanting for your debut single?
LL: The melody that came naturally, just in the writing session, we all just kind of started humming along, that's kind of what we came up with. And then the production side, I owe it all to Ash Bowers. He's my producer. He kind of came up that kind summer vibe, but yeah, it's just a fun song. And like I said, it's like a story of my life put to a fun, catchy melody.
NB: What's the plan for the rest of the year? Have you got more singles that you’re already looking towards, or a full like an album or EP?
LL: I think we're still kind of deciding as we go, but I have cut and recorded 10 Songs, so 10 Songs could go out tomorrow. So maybe an album in the making, maybe a couple singles, and then maybe eventually an album we shall see, hopefully everybody enjoys and streams the heck out of American Dreamin’ and then we can release some more. But yeah, right now, cool.
NB: What sort of things do you like to do outside of country when you just have a bit of downtime?
LL: Well, I'm one of five, and I have three younger siblings. I have a younger brother and then have two young sisters. One's two years old, and the other one's almost four months old. So I'm definitely babysitting when I'm not working. Um. But on top of that, I hang out with friends. I'm very involved in my youth group at church, so we have like, our little summer fun, so yeah, hanging out with friends, staying grounded as much as possible. I told somebody this the other day, I kind of feel like Hannah Montana, because I get like, I live in West Tennessee still, so I'll drive Nashville and write songs, record, do all the work stuff, and then I come home and I'm just Lakelin. I'm Lay Lay to my sisters. So it's kind of the best of both worlds.
NB: Sounds like a busy household.
LL: Yes, it definitely is. I was literally babysitting right before I hopped on the call.
NB: Is that the trader off - free babysitting for free guitar playing?
LL: Yes, it's a pretty good deal.
NB: Another thing I saw in your bio that I thought was really cool was that one of your goals is to visit all 50 states, and you've already ticked 40 of ‘em off the list, which is impressive.
LL: Yeah, one thing that my family loves to do is travel. Every year we plan some vacation. We did an East Coast RV trip, West Coast RV trip, we have an RV so we're kind of an RV family, I guess. But yeah, we love to travel.
NB: What would you say is the biggest thing that you've learned about yourself just from traveling so extensively?
LL: Biggest thing I learned about myself traveling is that I love to travel. I think that that's one reason I love getting to sing and perform, is because the ultimate dream is to like, be a touring musician and just travel all over the world and get to sing my songs. That's the big dream.
NB: Hopefully it won't be too long before we get to see you playing some shows over here then.
LL: I know! I would love to get on a tour over there.
NB: Hopefully that’s not too far away then because I really enjoyed your set in Nashville. Lakelin, thank you so much for your time, and all the best with American Dreamin’
LL: Thank you so much.
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Hit the links below to keep up to date with Lakeline's socials:
Stream Lakelin's music here.
Watch 'Happy, Sad, Dream Collab' with Lakeline below:
