Cortland Standard .net

By COLLEEN SIUZDAK
Staff Reporter
csiuzdak@cortlandstandard.net
TULLY — Megan Lee was a senior at SUNY Cortland when she realized she wanted to pursue a career in music, so she hopped on a flight to Nashville one year later to start her musical journey.
Lee, 26, played piano and saxophone as a child, but only picked up the guitar at 21-years-old when she started to become serious about songwriting and playing.
“I never really pursued music as anything except for something I did for myself,” Lee said Friday, noting she was studying to get a teaching degree in physical education. “I was being practical ... but about a year before I was going to graduate I said, ‘What am I going to regret when I’m 50 years old?’”
Lee won the best country music album at the Syracuse Area Music Awards last week for her first album titled “Metamorphosis.” The album is a collaboration of songs she has written over the years before even deciding on a music career.
“I can’t believe I won a Sammy because you work on something for so long and it’s just a cherry on top of the whole journey to get recognized like that,” Lee said, adding she only started recording three years ago at Yackland Studios in Nashville. She said she was honored to even be nominated.
A close family friend and musical mentor, Edgar Pagan, was the one who suggested Lee submit her album to the Syracuse awards.
Pagan, who has his own band Groupo Pagan, said he was impressed with Lee’s music after she performed for the first time at a benefit at Tully High School for victims of the 2011 tsunami in Japan.
Lee had never performed professionally locally besides her debut at the high school.
Ever since then he gave her nothing but encouragement to pursue music and let her album speak for itself, he said.
“She just cares about people and loves her music and it comes out on her CD,” Pagan said. “It didn’t surprise me at all when she won.”
Lee thanked her family and friends for encouraging her to keep going with her music.
“I’m lucky ... no one ever told me I can’t do that,” Lee said.
Lee said she did not write most of her songs from personal experiences, as most artists do, but focused on creating a song that she imagined a strong female artist would sing.
She said her songs are “sassy” but powerful. Lee hopes listeners are able to relate to her songs, noting each person can connect differently to the same song.
“I think there’s a responsibility on someone who is delivering a song to not try to impose too much ... onto a person listening before ... they make the connection themselves,” Lee said.
Pagan said he sees something special happening for Lee and knows her music will continue to inspire others.
“I give her a lot of credit for going for her dreams,” Pagan said. “She’s got a great heart and it comes through hermusic.”