Meet Chris Stevens

I was born and raised in Eugene, Oregon. From a very young age, I was drawn to music, playing any instrument I could get my hands on. I had a keen ear for chords notes melodies and harmonies. I played the trumpet, drums, and piano throughout my early years. When I graduated high school, I joined a cover band and toured throughout the Pacific Northwest for about a year before I decided it was time to hang up my musical hobbies and go to college.

Two years into my academic run, I had an opportunity to intern at a software company in 1990. It was there that my passion for music and technology really came into focus. What was supposed to be a summer internship turned into a full-time job offer to create music and sound effects for PC games. This was the beginning of my professional music career I suppose, since I never returned to college after that summer. By the mid-90s, I started a music production company with a colleague of mine. We wrote music for many of the major software companies.

By the late 90s, I began to focus more on producing music for artists and less on games. At this time, I met a singer-songwriter named Paul Wright. We began to collaborate in the studio, and the music we created would eventually find its way to Nashville and into the hands of Christian recording artist and label executive TobyMac.

My first trip from Eugene to Nashville was in 2002, which was also the year I began to collaborate with Toby on his solo album project. We hit it off and by late 2003, I began seriously considering a move from Oregon to Tennessee, thanks to Toby’s nudging to do so. A year later my wife Nancy and I sold our home in Oregon and moved with our four sons to Tennessee. At 37 years of age, I had pretty deep roots in Oregon.

It was a crazy time for us and the move happened so fast. I expected to last about 2-4 years and move back to Oregon. But the next dozen or so years would prove to be a whirlwind. I wrote and produced chart-topping albums and songs for many top Christian artists including TobyMac, Mandisa, Sanctus Real, and Unspoken. I celebrated my first Grammy award in 2013 for TobyMac’s album “Eye On It.” A year later I took home two more Grammys, both with Mandisa’s album and song “Overcomer”. And in 2016 I received another Grammy for TobyMac’s album “This Is Not A Test”.

That same year, I rented a writing office on Music Row and began focusing on country music. Producer and friend, Scott Hendricks introduced me to Rusty Gaston, who helped me open many doors in that world and took me under his wing. I was fortunate to make some new friends in the Nashville country songwriting community and learned so much about the songwriting process during this time. In 2018, I celebrated my first country number one with “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright,” performed by David Lee Murphy and Kenny Chesney. In 2019, I produced a roots gospel album with disco legend Gloria Gaynor. This album also won a Grammy in 2020.

Nearly 20 years, 5 Grammys, 13 Dove awards, and 3 BMI Songwriter awards later, and I’m still doing my thing. Making music that helps people get through life is the best gig in the world and I am truly grateful to be able to do what I love for a living.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Plenty of bumps. Lots of last-minute let-downs and big opportunities that fizzled. I guess that’s just the nature of the business. I chose to use those moments as motivation to keep pushing, keep trying to raise my bar and be my best (or worst) critic. Perhaps my biggest “struggle” has been a lack of self-confidence or not trusting my gut and regretting it later.

I’ve had confidence issues most of my career. I guess they call that imposter syndrome. It is a real thing for some creatives. Thankfully persistence pays off in this business. Sometimes it’s just a matter of sticking around long enough to eventually overcome those confidence issues, or at least make them manageable.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My primary job titles are “Producer” and “Songwriter.” Sometimes I combine them into one title, sometimes I swap the order depending on what mood I’m in. I’ve become more of a songwriter as time passes, but my natural forte is in the production process, particularly vocals.

The role of producing varies quite significantly from one producer to the next, and from one project to the next. In my case, I arrange parts, play instruments, engineer sessions, edit vocals, and instrument tracks, mix, and sometimes even master. I might choose to farm out one or more of those items if I feel there is a better person for the job. I’m not a control freak (yeah right), but I do get a little obsessed about wanting to hear what’s in my head coming through the speakers, and I’ll do whatever I need to for that to happen, then decide if it’s right.

I’m probably known best for my unique “sound” which is shaped by the musical influences I had growing up. I like to infuse a little bit of ’70s funk and R&B into everything I do. The harmonies, the grooves, the chords, the instruments. It all has a bit of a retro feel, but I try to stop short of it being too obvious. I think what I am most proud of is being true to those roots and not trying to chase the latest musical fad. It could be my downfall, but I’m making music first and foremost for my enjoyment, and hopefully, others out there will enjoy it also.

What makes you happy?
Hiking and talking with God in nature, camping in the desert, being creative, spending time with the ones I love, and living in the moment make me happy. I struggle with that last one, but I’m working on it. I guess these things make me happy because they make me feel alive.