How A Lightning Strike Launched Ryan Stevenson's Music Career
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This week on Live in the Bream, we've got somebody that you have probably heard if you are a fan of Christian radio, of great music. But oh my goodness, his backstory. And there's so much there that I have learned and looking forward to talking with him. Ryan Stevenson joins us today on Live in the Bream. He is a Grammy and Billboard Music Award nominee. He's won Dove and all kinds of other awards. He's had tons of number one hits. He's a writer and a singer. And he's a great singer.

and how he got from point A to point B is pretty fascinating. So, Ryan, welcome to Live in the Bream. Thank you, ma'am. What a pleasure to be here. It's truly an honor. I got to tell you, I know about some of your hit songs, but I didn't know about some of the ones that you have written or co-written with other people that they've recorded, too. It's an amazing record that you've got out there. Well, thank you. I mean, it's

I know what I'm capable of, and none of this is really me, I promise. I am so thankful that people want to listen to anything that I write down, and I feel like it's just truly the Lord's provision and His hand and His wind on these thoughts and prayers that end up touching a lot of people, and I'm just so grateful for that.

Yeah, you're like me. There's a lot of divine intervention. And I think it's good that we view our lives in that way, that it's good to be able to say it's not about us because then it's not on us, you know. 100%.

It's such a good feeling. Okay, so you've got this brand new album, Able, that we'll talk about, but I want to go a little bit back in your story because I didn't realize, and maybe your super fans would know all of this, but for folks who don't know your backstory, you did love music growing up and that kind of thing, but you were, when you're early on, also working driving an ambulance or as an EMT. Tell us about that and how you got from there to here.

Yeah. Well, well, it's my, I always want to just preface it by saying my, my story and my journey is very, uh, unconventional. It's been a, a wild quirky kind of ride, but, um,

I originally went to college to become an ER physician. I loved the medical field. I wanted to be a doctor. Long story short, I ended up not going through medical school. I became a paramedic instead. So I went through two years of paramedic school and I worked managing a frontline 911 ambulance for about eight years.

And it was actually on my job, on shift, on a 911 call, really, where it was a true event that took place that kind of was the catalyst that transitioned me from working full-time as a paramedic

to going into Christian music full time. And it literally involved a lightning strike. Yes, ma'am. Yeah. When we talk about lightning striking, that's actually what happened in your case. It sounds made up. And I love talking about it because like you and I were just talking about

It's not about me. It's the Lord and His divine hand in the details of our lives, meticulously crafting our story if we let Him. The nuts and bolts of it is really...

I was a paramedic. I was working one day. It was in the middle of the afternoon. It was a beautiful day, but all of a sudden, this crazy flash flooding downpour and lightning storm just hit the valley. It came out of nowhere. It lasted about three minutes, and then it was gone again, and it just cleared up to a beautiful day. Well, right after that storm had hit,

Our dispatch tones went off and we got dispatched to a lightning strike for a 39-year-old female who was in cardiac arrest. And sure enough, we drove, we were quite a ways away from it.

So we drove up there into the hills and it was a young female, 39-year-old female who was out hiking in the hills with her two little boys and her mom. And they had been looking at property. They were kind of scoping out some property and some land to potentially maybe build a home on at some point. And the storm came in. They tried to run back to the car. They didn't make it to the car. Lightning struck the lady dead.

In the head. And down they go. She's in full-on cardiac arrest. The mother drove to the next house down the hill, which was, I believe it was about a mile away. Because they didn't have a cell phone. The cell phone got melted in her jeans from that lightning strike. It got totally fried. So by the time we got there, she'd been down, not breathing, no heartbeat for days.

long time, probably 10 minutes. And I just felt like, man, you know, the first thing I saw, I walked up, I saw her boys standing there. It was this catastrophic, really tense, tense scene. I just told my guys, I said, hey, put her in the ambulance. I knew in my head and my heart, I was like, man,

She's just she's not going to make it, but we'll just take her to the hospital. Fast forward moments later, we're in the back of the ambulance. I'm putting IVs in her. I got, you know, chest paddles on her. I'm doing my thing. I put a tube in her lungs. I intubated her. I'm breathing for her.

And moments later, I'd see her heart come back. And long story short, again, we, I fully revived her, me and my team, we revived her and we delivered her to the hospital with a heartbeat, a good blood pressure. So she made it, she survived and she recovered. Total miracle. I mean, I was just completely blown away by

Months later, she and I ended up connecting through a series of events. And she found out that I was, you know, this paramedic that had helped her was kind of this, the more we got to talking, she found out that I was a local musician in the community. Like I was just out playing music.

coffee shops and acoustic open mic nights wherever you know just kind of doing it as a hobby because I just loved it and so on my at that point I'm sorry but were you thinking at that point that you would ever do music professionally man not really I've I wanted to like that was my dream but I was I was very content with

just working as a paramedic, it was a great job. I was learning a lot. It was, you know, it was pretty safe. It was pretty secure. Like we had good benefits. We had, you know, a salary, all those things that make it a kind of a low risk existence and a real consistent type of income. Music, on the other hand, it was just seemed like a pipe dream, like

It was risky. There was no guarantees. There was no guaranteed financial income. There was no benefits. I mean, if that was going to be the case, it would really have to work. And so she said to me one day when we were talking, we were having coffee one day. This was months after her event. And she just said,

And I see something in you, Ryan, that I can't explain. There's just something different about you. If you weren't a paramedic, what would you want to do? What's your dream? I said, well, my dream is to do music full time, to make a living full

playing music and helping people, ministering to people through my songs. And let me remind you, you know, this lady, she and I don't necessarily share the same faith. We're not on the same spiritual path. But she just said, I want to help you. I want to be there for you if you ever need me.

So fast forward months and months later, I get an opportunity to go into a recording studio because I'd been writing songs for 12, 13 years, you know, since high school. And she...

said you know I remember she told me if you ever need me I'll want to help you well I needed some money as most starting out artists do and it's so I mean I I dialed her number and put the phone down so many times I was so so nervous and I felt so humiliated like I cannot can't go there I can't ask this this lady for help and I just I was like I just felt

Well, I'm just going to ask her and she can say no. And she was immediately said, yes, I want to help you. What is it going to take? And I told her and she, and here's kind of another funny story, how the Lord works. I said, I need, I need $4,000. She's like, huh? Interesting. Well, that's, that's kind of weird because a couple of days ago, this retroactive disability check from an insurance claim happened.

Just showed up at our house. I don't know what it's from I think it's from the accident But we've never seen anything like this and it's literally for the amount you need so I know that that's your check So I she gave that to me. I went to a recording studio. I recorded five songs that I felt like could be five really great songs to kind of put my best foot forward and that ultimately led me to

this guy named Toby Mac through a series of events and we ended up writing a song together and the rest is kind of history. I mean, yeah. And that song Speak Life is a fantastic song that is almost an instant classic. I mean, it's just one that's going to be around for the ages. And do you know when you're writing a song like that, like, Ooh, this one feels like it's going to hit, it's going to be a hit. Yeah.

Man, I feel like it's almost the opposite for me personally. Yes, I feel like every time I've written something and I'm like, oh, this is a smash. Like, I feel like this is a big hit song. It does marginally okay. But it's the songs that I'm just like, I'm writing that one song.

for me with a deep meaning and I just I'm saying the thing I'm risking and I'm saying the things that I feel like are just moving me so deeply in my own heart those are the songs like Speak Life that just pop through and I

ended up kind of striking a chord in the hearts of a lot of people because I just think there was such transparency and truth and honesty in those songs. Like there was nothing vague. There was no broad strokes. It was specific about the words that are coming out of our mouth. And I think those specific messages tend to really resonate in the specific areas of our heart and soul.

We'll have more live in the bream in a moment. Cut low on Fox business is now on the go for podcast fans. Get key interviews with the biggest business newsmakers of the day. The Cutlow podcast will be available on the go after the show every weekday at Fox business podcasts dot com or wherever you download your favorite podcasts. Tell me about Eye of the Storm. Did you not think that that was going to be a huge hit? What did you think when that one came together and were you surprised by the success of it?

Totally blown away that in fact, that song was never really even supposed to exist. I had my record completely done and, uh,

My A&R guy, our record label, came to me last minute and he just said, hey, man, Ryan, we love everything that you've turned in. It's great. We're so proud of this record. You have nine songs, but your deal says that you can have 10. And 10, a double digit track listing just looks better on iTunes and all the streaming platforms. So do you have anything at all? I said, no, I don't.

said, well, can you write something? And we'll just put it at the bottom of the record. We'll just bury it. This is going to be the Z-list side of this thing. We'll at least just have 10 songs. So me and my friend Brian wrote a song called Eye of the Storm in about 30 minutes. And we just started writing about stuff that was real, things that

that were actually going on in people's lives, in my life, in his life, in the lives of our friends and family. And again, we just spoke specifically about

job loss, financial hardship, losing a child, getting sick with cancer, things like addiction. We just went there because we knew. I was told, don't worry about this last song. It'll never be a radio song. We'll never do anything crazy with it. We just need one more song.

And that was Eye of the Storm. Did it take the pressure off when it's explained to you that way? Like, oh, it's no big deal. It's going to be sort of a filler thing. Does that make a difference when you're trying to throw something together? Absolutely. Because then you just really write truly from honesty and you risk and you just you write the message through.

uh without that that governor if you will of how do we get this uh down down how do we breathe this song down the straw with everything else that may or may not you know strike a chord with people when when you don't have those uh those boundaries on there i feel like the real deep heart

and the vulnerability comes out really easily. And that gave birth to other things, including you've authored a book, Eye of the Storm, Experiencing God When You Can't See Him, and you've got a podcast, Weathering the Storm as well. Does it continue to focus on those trials in life, those things that really are common to all of us at some point, we're going to have deep valleys and storms?

- Absolutely. I think that one thing that I've learned, you know, with my history and the, with my history and

Just the area that I grew up with, the people that I grew up with, and seeing real life take place on a daily level right in front of me with really honest people, seeing people's brokenness, starting out playing music. I started leading worship in little church groups called Celebrate Recovery, which were people who were coming out of Africa.

out of addiction and just seeing like, that's, those are my people. Like that's my community. Like we all go. It was so clear to me early on that, man, we are all just people and we're not necessarily broken. We're just growing. We're in a state of maturation and we, we are all going to face trials. I think the one thing that unifies every single human being is the fact that

that we are going to face trials. And I always just want to speak to because I have those things in my own life and the times that I've grown the most and have been healed the most of when people have spoken hope and healing in the midst of my heartache or pain or uncertainty.

Yeah, and you know, I always say, of course I want to be able to learn on the mountaintops when everything's going great and awesome and I can really worship and praise. And that's true, you can, but my deepest heart lessons in spiritual maturity have definitely come from the storms, from walking through them, from being forced to rely on the Lord as nothing else is left. You know, nothing else.

could step up in that moment. And none of us likes to get to that place, but it's actually a beautiful thing to know that as you walk through those storms, there is good coming from it, not maybe by the world standards or by what we would choose for ourselves, but really in that growth and that closeness. You know, I remember at one time coming out of a really deep, deep, dark, struggling place. And when I was starting to see light and come out on the other side, having this little

part of me in my heart that was a little bit sad thinking I won't have, you know, the desperate clawing for closeness and for just hearing God's presence in his voice.

every day to survive like I was when I was walking through that valley but knowing that I'd been equipped with a different level of understanding and maturity because I'd walk through that not that we would choose those things but being able to look back on those times with some amount of affection you know for what they brought us I want to make sure that we talk about your new album Able tell us what it's about what songs we should watch for and kind of what fueled the whole thing

Sure. Well, I, you know, in a nutshell, I guess this, you know, the last three years, um,

has just been kind of a wilderness season for me, I would say. And I spent the last 10 years touring full-time, playing in arenas all over America, you know, on buses and on major, major A-market tours with tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people. And this last few years, you know, when COVID hit us in March of 2020 and everything shut down,

And, you know, our livelihood depends on us playing live music and touring. And when that all stopped, I watched my calendar that was booked a year out. I just watched it evaporate in the course of about two weeks. And we just didn't know what to do, you know, and we have three kids and

And I was like, man, Lord, what is happening? Like, where are you? What are you doing? And I just had this real strange sense of peace that he was orchestrating my circumstances and my steps. And so that really began a process of us pivoting and navigating a whole new normal. And in this last season of just being out there

Like we just really didn't stop playing. We rented a minivan, bought a little sound system, and we started playing private home parties in people's backyards. I've heard about this. It's just unbelievable. It's been the most beautiful – one of the most beautiful seasons of my life because it just showed me so clearly, again, how we're all just people –

We all need hope. We all need Jesus so desperately. And we're way more unified in America than we are divided. Like I have just been witness to it so much. And all these things that have been going on

I feel like have been the Lord just stripping me away from all the noise and all the production and all of the steamers and hazers and lights and lasers and big stages and getting me in a backyard with 50 people and sharing and being community and loving on each other. It's really shown me, if I can pinpoint it,

I feel like the Lord has been showing me this season, his Abba's heart. Like that's just the revelation that's been piercing my heart that, that has been exploding in my heart over the last three years is this wilderness season where I feel like the only way I could have known the heart of a dad of Abba is to be alone and quiet with him in the wilderness of

where that's just the only way it's happened for me. So out of that has kind of just birthed this passion and this excitement and this joy to just trumpet that message to people. And that's what these, every song on this new project, just, I really pray that it ministers to people in that space. A lot of us who have grown up in religion or grown up around church culture, who know a lot about

God's resume or a lot about his accolades or what he does. And, you know, the notion that God is able, I think, has a lot less to do with what he can do for me by changing my circumstances, but really who he is as a dad and what he wants to do in and through me. And that's really the heart of these songs.

We have been talking today with Ryan Stevenson, brand new album out able before we go, tell us where people can find you, which are up to your tours, your music. We're actually out on the road right now. We, you people can find me really easy. I'm all over social media at Ryan Stevenson, music.com or, you know, at all those other things, Instagram, all of that stuff. It's just Ryan's music.com.

And I love, you know, staying connected with people on there. Well, thank you for visiting us on Live in the Bream. And hopefully we'll see you out there on the road. I'm going to go to the website and see how close you're going to get to us and try to come see you in person. Brian, thank you so much. Would love that. Thank you, Shannon. I appreciate your time. Listen ad-free with the Fox News Podcast plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. And Amazon Prime members can listen to this show ad-free on the Amazon Music app.

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