Rising Stars: Meet Stevie Rae Stephens

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stevie Rae Stephens.

Hi Stevie, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I started singing when I was 5 years old and training and competing professionally when I was 13. I didn’t start writing music until I started playing the piano a few years later and quickly turned from a competitive singer into a musician. I went to California State University Monterey Bay for Audio Engineering and then I moved to England for a Masters of Songwriting program at Bath Spa University.

Once I was stateside, I spent a few years in Monterey, CA working as a live sound engineer, master electrician for a traveling production company, and house singer for a local wine bar. During my time in Monterey, I also started training in Japanese Jujutsu which would ultimately push me to write the title track, Ladylike on my recent record. I decided to take my career to the next level in 2017 when I moved to Nashville.

I didn’t play my first round in Nashville for the first 6 months, I lived here until I finally got to play at Belcourt Taps for the very first East of the Row. EOTR became my Nashville family and Belcourt became my home base. Nearly everyone I know in Nashville, I know through one of the Taps bars. I started working on my 3rd record, Ladylike, and released it in December 2019.

After quarantine lifted I took over the weekends at Belcourt booking and bartending and before I knew it I had built a wonderful community. It’s been quite a journey so far in Nashville. Now, even after Belcourt has closed, my community of songwriters is strong and like family to me. I recently joined the band Gwen Levey and the Breakdown as a result of the friendships I’ve made at these nights of music.

Every Sunday night at Cabana Taps, Kiernan McMullan and I host the Pindrop Songwriter Series, a night of music based on the success of our nights at Belcourt. We wanted to create a community of songwriters that supports and authentically uplifts each other. We call it the rising tide effect– when the tide comes in, all the boats rise together.

I’ve met most of my closest friends at these writers’ rounds and nights of music.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been a smooth road at all. In June 2019, halfway through the year, I released 5 singles, 3 EPs, and a full-length record, I decided to quit a stimulant medication I had been taking for 17 years. I started on a very high dose of the stimulant when I was 11 years old and took it every single day till I was 28. By the time I was in college, I was taking roughly 75 milligrams per day.

It took my body 18 months to learn how to make its own dopamine and that time frame is a very dark, depressed, and hopeless time in my life. During this time, however, I directed my second production of The Vagina Monologues performed by 30 women at Exit/In, released the record, and played 250 writers’ rounds in Nashville. It was a terrifying relief when the world took a break to quarantine in 2020.

I needed a break. I had started losing my voice in an irreparable way during this time and started taking lessons again from my childhood voice teacher. I told her I needed to relearn to sing and rebuild my voice from the bottom as my brain continued to heal from the withdrawals I was experiencing.

For the first year of these weekly lessons, I would end up in tears of frustration or joy from having to start from the frustrating beginning or from singing better than I ever have. Ultimately, it’s been a very rocky road since June 2019, but I wouldn’t have made it out of that dark time without my Nashville songwriter family.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
In 2011, I was in my 3rd year of college at CSU Monterey Bay and was invited to audition for our college’s production of The Vagina Monologues. It was such an informative experience. I realized that I was more passionate about helping women than most things.

I began writing female empowerment music and volunteering for women’s shelters and producing my own performances of the Obie-Award-winning play here in Nashville. It was an incredible accomplishment that I am very proud of. Helping women heal is a skill I never knew I had, but it is now something I am very passionate about.

Ladylike, the song, is about challenging the social constructs surrounding womanhood and what it means to be ladylike in modern times when the concept is inherently ancient. Redefining the concept to include all women of all types is a step in the right direction.

Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
I have been very invested in a book by Yuval Noah Harrari called “Sapiens: A Brief History of Human Kind”.

I find the conversational and self-debating nature of the book to be very insightful and informative for understanding people and keeping my anthropological mind working constantly.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.stevieraestephens.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/stevieraestephens
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/stevieraestephensmusic
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/stevieraestephens
• Other: www.instagram.com/pindropsongwriterseries

Image Credits
Studio 22381 Photography and Anna Haas Photography