Filmore: State I’m In

Singer-songwriter Filmore was destined to be a country star, or at least that’s what he decides during this interview. He certainly put everything on red to make it as an artist – and a savvy one at that – selling his beloved Jeep in order to move to Nashville and have enough money to retain control of his masters. His debut album chronicles the ups and downs of his life so far; he explains why every track on State I’m In represents a moment in time that made him who he is.

“It’s really weird here at the moment,” says a laid back Filmore, commenting on an eerily quiet Nashville. “There's never no music here, so right now Nashville doesn't feel like Nashville at all. It's been a shell shock for me because I've been touring for the last five years pretty heavily, so I’m kind of relearning how to live at home.”

Raised in Wildwood, Missouri, Filmore’s musical inclinations were shaped by a variety of sounds, cultures and musical eras; from his Colombian mother’s salsa music to his father’s ‘80s favourites like John Mellencamp and Def Leppard.

“All of the radio stations in Missouri play country, so my entire upbringing was around country music – outside of my parents influences and obviously the internet,” he notes.

“It’s been cool to test the waters for country music in the way that I do it. My sound just came together and led to this path of country music. It's been a long, crazy journey. I grew up playing sports and everything like that, but music was just always there…” he trails off. “I'm gonna go with destiny! I was destined to do this,” he decides.

Call it destiny or bunking off, Filmore realised that he could earn extra break time in fifth grade if he joined the choir. It turned out it wasn’t the extra play time that would inspire a young Filmore – he remained in the choir throughout high school and after graduation enrolled at the University of Missouri where he majored in vocal performance and business.

On the weekends he would play with his band, making extra cash and gaining popularity regionally. After completing his studies, Filmore decided to make the jump and move to Nashville to make it as a solo artist, selling his Jeep in order to have enough money to retain control of his masters (he still doesn't have a car today, although presumably for very different reasons).

“I realised early on that there are these record deals going around where they take all this ownership of you, and then they basically can just squash your career if they don't want to work with you anymore; they have so much control. Having that much control over an artist hinders the creative experience. I think some of the best artists are the ones that are slightly polarising and that really try to push the envelope, and sometimes record labels will stop you from doing that.

“For me, in my path of what I wanted to do as an artist, it was very important that I kept control of my songs, so that I could not only make money, but get the money back from my Jeep that I sold to live!” he laughs. “I wanted to be able to make a living doing this, stay on the road, tour, and be able to pay for the bus and the band and everything.”

Filmore has been in Nashville since 2011, and in the last couple of years he’s hit something of a groove, creatively – although he’s not a huge fan of his earlier songs.

“I think the first songs I wrote were pretty bad,” he laughs. “I think that's just a part of writing songs. There's good and bad days, but I know who I am as an artist and a writer now, so just having that confidence has really helped shape my songwriting. When you're on stage and you see people respond to your music that you’ve written, it really opens your eyes to what songs work and which ones don't. “

Filmore went on to independently release several EPs including 2016's Proof, but it was the release of banjo-led summer anthem Slower in 2018 that ironically sped things up for him. The song was his big breakout moment, garnering more than 26 million streams, not to mention catching the attention of Nashville's Curb Records, who swiftly signed him up.

Nothing but confident in his songwriting abilities, Filmore thinks that each song he puts out has the potential to be huge, but even he was taken aback by the way this one snowballed.

“I never put a song out and think, ‘Oh, this is just another song to put out, but it's probably not gonna do anything’. My goal is to put out a song every single time that I personally think could blow up in some form or some way. But some songs are bigger than others,” he shrugs.

“I will say that there was a feeling that day in that room, though. Also, there's a lot of timing that comes with a song... it just hit at the right time, so there's a lot of luck, but also hard work that goes into this. A lot of stars aligned in that way and it gave me leverage to sign a deal and still retain control of who I am as an artist. I have so much to thank for that song.”

Filmore’s highly anticipated debut album, State I’m In was released in late 2020. The 18-song project chronicles a chapter of his life filled with changes, including his engagement to long-time girlfriend Paige (they married in October 2020), planning a fall wedding, and seeing his worldwide fan base continue to grow amidst a global pandemic.

“It's all the chapters and the ups and downs since I left Missouri and moved to Nashville, and then my experiences in Nashville,” he explains.

"So the title track is a state of mind, but it can also be thought of in terms of locations. Every single song has a latitude, longitude or coordinates attached to it, and that tells you the story of why I wrote that song. That's the whole purpose of this album – telling my story.”