To many, musician Lamont Landers seemed to appear out of nowhere. One viral video led to another, then television appearances and record deals, and before long, the Decatur native was sharing stages with some of the biggest names in music. But the headlines tell only part of the story. Behind every breakthrough were years spent learning, grinding, and, as Landers puts it, “cutting his teeth anywhere that would have me.”

In an interview with SoulGrown, Landers reflected on the long road from local bars to becoming one of Alabama’s fastest-rising stars.

Where It All Began

Landers grew up in Decatur, Alabama, where he proudly resides to this day. He played high school football there, though he laughs that he “wasn’t very good,” and picked up music around the same time.

He remembers admiring a couple of older musicians and feeling inspired by their talent. For two straight summers, he spent as much time as possible in his room playing guitar, determined to become as good as they were.

After graduating, he enrolled at Calhoun Community College and joined a band called The Wheelers. At just 19 years old, he was the youngest member, surrounded by musicians in their late 20s. Before long, they were regularly performing at college bars throughout Tuscaloosa, playing venues like Top Shelf, Coppertop, The Booth, Bear Trap, and anywhere else that would have them.

Despite what many people know him for today, Landers didn’t sing much in those early years. The Wheelers had several talented vocalists, so his primary role was playing guitar.

Today, most people know him as a singer, but Landers still lights up when someone compliments his guitar playing. He says he almost enjoys those moments more than compliments about his voice.

“On the off chance that someone says, ‘Man, you’re really good at guitar,’ I love that almost more than the singing compliments,” Landers says.

Eventually, music eclipsed everything else. Landers left college to pursue it full time. “Music kind of just became my thing, and school fell by the wayside,” he explains.

Looking back, he sees leaving school as the moment he fully committed to making music his career. He says he didn’t have much work experience to fall back on, aside from a couple of short-term jobs.

“The only other two jobs I’ve had in my life were as a cashier at JD’s, the liquor store, and I worked at Walmart for a week. Every other dollar I’ve made has been playing music, so I said to myself, ‘I guess this is it. I’m thugging it out,'” Landers says.

Early YouTube and Reddit Virality

In 2013, Landers got his first glimpse that people connected with his voice. He and his sister were visiting family in Hoover, Alabama, who had never heard him perform. He picked up his aunt’s old guitar, tuned it, and sang Ray Charles’ “Hit the Road Jack.” His sister recorded the performance on her phone and uploaded it to YouTube.

Between YouTube and Reddit, the video racked up a couple hundred thousand views almost overnight. Looking back, Landers says that moment was the first time he realized his voice could take him somewhere.

“That was my first indication that people actually liked the way I sing,” he says. “Before that, I had no idea that was even a thing. I thought I was just a guitar player.”

The response surprised him, especially because he had never received formal vocal training. Although he had participated in choir in high school, he never considered himself a standout vocalist.

“In choir, I was never a featured soloist or anything like that,” Landers explains. “It was just something that you did…just by the nature of the beast being in high school and trying to fit in.”

The viral moment followed him into his everyday life, too. While working at a liquor store in Tuscaloosa, he says customers would often recognize him while he was ringing up their purchases.

“They’d say, ‘You’re that dude from Reddit!'” he recalls.

Despite the attention, his career didn’t immediately change. Live music remained his focus, and he continued playing as many shows as he could. Landers says he knew he could have done more with that early online momentum, but at the time, social media wasn’t his priority.

“I had that early success on YouTube, but I wasn’t as diligent as I should have been,” he says. “My sister was pushing me to post weekly, regularly, but I just wasn’t into it at the time.”

Over the next decade, he posted only sporadically, and his social media following slowly grew to around 10,000 followers.

Big Break

After nearly a decade of grinding it out on the road, another opportunity arrived through an unexpected phone call.

Tom Gimbel, the longtime executive producer of Austin City Limits, was getting back into artist management when he reached out to Landers’ friend Nick Bockrath, lead guitarist of Grammy-winning rock band Cage the Elephant. Gimbel asked Bockrath a simple question: Who was the artist he didn’t already know?

“Who don’t I know?” Gimbel asked.

Bockrath’s answer came without hesitation. “Lamont Landers.”

Shortly afterward, Gimbel traveled to Decatur to meet Landers, and the two began working together. The opportunity gave Landers a renewed sense that it was time to approach his career differently.

“I said to myself, ‘Let’s start trying to build something,'” he says.

With that mindset, Landers created a TikTok account and committed to posting consistently. One of the first videos he shared was an older clip of his band performing on Showtime at the Apollo with Steve Harvey in 2018. He says the response was immediate.

“People went crazy for it,” he recalls.

As he continued posting regularly on TikTok and Instagram, his audience grew quickly. Before long, Landers had more than 150,000 followers, and celebrities began sharing his videos and reaching out.

The list of supporters quickly became a remarkable mix of names.

“Snoop Dogg, George Clinton, Rosie O’Donnell—you name it,” Landers says.

One week in particular still stands out. He remembers receiving messages from two unexpected names in the same week: Ghostface Killah of Wu-Tang Clan and Kenny G.

“I had Ghostface Killah from Wu-Tang Clan and Kenny G reach out to me in the same week,” he says with a laugh. “I remember thinking, ‘This is f****** insane.'”

Momentum was building. Every viral video, celebrity repost, and new opportunity seemed to create another one, until one morning, Questlove changed everything.

The Questlove Effect

One morning a few years ago, Landers woke up expecting an ordinary day. He rolled out of bed, checked his phone, and saw a text from his bass player with a screenshot of Questlove’s Instagram page. Questlove—the drummer and co-founder of The Roots, the house band for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon—had shared one of Landers’ videos. His face was the first post on Questlove’s grid.

The video was Landers’ cover of “The Rubberband Man” by The Spinners. Along with it, Questlove encouraged his millions of followers to check out Landers’ music and give him a follow.

The following days brought a flood of attention, but an even bigger opportunity was waiting.

Not long afterward, legendary record producer Dave Cobb reached out. In Landers’ words, Cobb “has produced everybody.”

Cobb told Landers he wanted to discuss signing him to a record deal. Landers and his manager, Tom Gimbel, caught the next flight to Savannah to meet with him. The meeting led to a record deal with one of the most respected producers in the music industry—a life-changing opportunity that all started with a single Instagram post.

Earlier this summer, Questlove unexpectedly became part of Landers’ story once again. After finishing a show, the venue’s emcee walked onstage and told him they had a special video to play. As Landers watched the projector screen behind him, Questlove appeared with another surprise.

“I’ve been watching your journey, and wow, man, it is incredible,” Questlove said in the video. “I’m happy to deliver the news that you get to perform at the Grand Ole Opry!”

For Landers, it was another full-circle moment.

From practicing guitar alone in his childhood bedroom in Decatur to playing bars in Tuscaloosa and now preparing to take the stage at the Grand Ole Opry, his journey has been anything but overnight.

His next stop: Nashville, Tennessee, on August 4.

Love for the State of Alabama

For someone whose career has taken off on a national stage, Landers has made an uncommon decision: he still calls Decatur home.

While many musicians eventually relocate to cities like Nashville, Los Angeles, or Atlanta, Landers has chosen to stay rooted in the place where it all began. His reasons are both personal and purposeful.

“First, my family is here,” he says. “And on the macro level, I think if everybody that’s cool moves away from the state, we don’t have a shot at being known as a cool place. If our greatest talents move to Nashville, L.A., or Atlanta, we don’t have a shot at being known as a music place. I want to stay here and be an ambassador for the state.”

That commitment to Alabama is part of what makes Landers’ story unique. Even as his audience continues to grow far beyond the state’s borders, he hopes to show that world-class talent doesn’t have to leave Alabama to make an impact.

When asked what comes next, Landers doesn’t point to a specific milestone or career goal. Instead, he focuses on gratitude for the opportunities that have already come his way.

“I definitely feel like momentum is rolling in my favor, and a lot of cool things have happened,” he says. “I just hope they continue to happen, and I’m grateful for the ride.”

For Landers, that ride has already taken him from a childhood bedroom in Decatur to local bars, viral videos, and now one of music’s most iconic stages. But perhaps the most important part of his story is that he never had to leave Alabama to find his voice—or share it with the world.