Interview: Steventhen Holland
Songwriter, musician, and worship leader Steventhen Holland talks to Louder Than The Music about his latest single 'I Still Need Jesus', and explains how he started out in music.
For those who haven't heard of you before, can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got involved in making music?
Hello everyone my name is Steventhen Holland. I am author, singer-songwriter, recording artist, worship leader, motivational speaker, national pro-life speaker, and founder of Broken Not Dead Ministries. Although, I’m blessed to carry the titles of all things just mentioned, I would have to say my greatest titles are husband, of 18 years, to my beautiful wife, Rachel, and dad to our three amazing and beautiful daughters, Isabella (17), Eliana (14), and Kadence (11).
Music has been a part of my life as long as I can remember. I grew up in a wonderful, loving, Christian home, in the small town of Whitwell, Tennessee, that was always filled with music and singing, which was usually one of two musical genres: Country and/or Southern Gospel. As a matter of fact, my mother’s side of the family had a traveling gospel quartet, of which I have a very fond memory of sitting on the front pew of a tiny country church, playing the spoons at one of their concerts around the age of five. From a very young age I had a love and deep connection with the power of music!
Music and, later in life, songwriting would become my place of peace, comfort, joy, a place to express myself, to process my emotions, it became a very deeply spiritual place!
Melody and lyric have the power to bring hope and heal deep wounds!
At the age of eight, after some kids at school told me that I was weird, different, and the wrong color, I found out that my family actually took me in out of the foster care system at seven days old and officially adopted me at two years old. Even though I didn’t lack any love and affection from my family, that is the first time in my life I remember feeling broken. I was questioning my worth and the feelings of rejection started to grow in my heart, because I couldn’t understand why my biological mom didn’t want me. I honestly don’t think I would have made it without my relationship with Jesus, a loving family, and the healing power of music.
There were so many days that I would retreat to the basement of our house and just get lost in listening to music, which would later be the place that I would begin to play guitar and start writing my own "songs of hope"! Which to date has become twenty-four professionally recorded and released "songs of hope"!
Tell us about your new single 'I Still Need Jesus' and what the inspiration behind it was?
“I Still Need Jesus”, which I co-wrote with my friend Jimmy Thrasher, has now been the No. 1 song on the CDX Traction Southern Gospel & Positive Country chart for 11 consecutive weeks! We are amazed at how God is already using this song to touch hearts and bring people closer to Him, which is really awesome because we poured our heart and soul into this song, as it was written from a very personal and vulnerable place. The inspiration for the song came from the tragic loss of Jimmy’s first wife and how God walked him through a very dark season and led him back to the light.
We based the first verse and pre-chorus on the incredibly hard season he went through after losing his wife. The second verse and second pre-chorus represents the season of life he is in now where God has given him an entirely new life. For the bridge of the song, we turn the message outward to anyone listening who may be in a challenging and hard season. We encourage them to look up to God who is reaching down to pull them up. And of course, the chorus of the song ties the heart of the song together. If you are at your lowest low or at your highest high, there is never a place where you don’t need Jesus because the truth is, we all need Jesus!
Do you have any plans to release more music in the near future?
Jimmy Thrasher and I have teamed up to co-write another single entitled “Open Our Eyes” that we hope to be able to record and release soon!
What message would you like people to take from your music?
In every song I write, I pray people find HOPE and are reminded of God’s peace and sovereignty despite earthly troubles!
How would you describe your style of music and what are your influences?
Real, Soulful, Heartfelt, Deep, Sacred, and God Honoring.
CCM; Southern Gospel; Gospel; Positive Country; Inspirational
In my early years my musical influences were definitely Country and Southern Gospel, but as I moved into middle school and high school I began to listen to more genres, like: R&B, 90’s Hip Hop, Alternative…During my college years is when I began to fall in love with modern worship music, which was during the beginning of the Passion movement, with people like Chris Tomlin, Crowder, Matt Redman, etc. In this season, God began to burn a desire in my heart to lead people in worship.
If you could work with any songwriter, who would it be and why?
That is such a hard question for me!
Brandon Lake, Phil Wickham, Cody Carnes, Maverick City Music..there are so many more I could list.
They are all beast songwriters and God is using their songwriting and worship leading abilities to encourage and impact the kingdom of God in a mighty way and it would be cool to collaborate with any of them!
How would you define success in your career as an artist?
I would consider myself successful as an artist if every melody and lyric that I wrote, performance I had, and every worship service I led, honored and glorified God, and impacted lives for the sake of the Gospel.
What is your favorite album of all time?
Boyz II Men: II
You're stuck on an island, it's hot, you only have enough battery life left to listen to one song on your phone. What track is it?
Go Rest High On That Mountain
What does the next year hold for you?
I'm currently booked to speak and sing at 16 national Pro-Life events, in 13 different states. I also still plan to continue to write, record, and release new music.
