We recently connected with Stephen Evans and have shared our conversation below.
Stephen, so happy to have you with us today. You are such a creative person, but have you ever head any sort of creativity block along the way? If so, can you talk to us about how you overcame or beat it?
I have overcome/beat creativity blocks by not forcing myself to write music if I am uninspired. I read fiction and I also read about current events with real people’s stories, and how they might relate to me or people I know. I also write lyrics down that come to me like specific lines without any context just to have them if more comes to me. Even if I am uninspired lyrically, but I have the music, I will write lyrics down to that music even if they aren’t good. Then I slowly edit them making new drafts until I develop something I really love. And if I ever get stuck on a song, I just put the song down for the time being and come back to it later. Forcing it usually makes for a bad song.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am a singer-songwriter based in Asheville, NC, that writes and performs Folk Rock/Americana style music either solo or with my band, Stephen Evans & the True Grits. I feel most excited about what I do when my music makes someone feel something. Whether it makes someone feel entertained, joy, laughter, sadness, melancholy, inspired, relaxed, or angry doesn’t matter. As long as it makes people feel something, I feel like I am successful with my purpose as an artist. It also excites me that my music could be heard all around the world with all of the possibilities of the internet. In 2025, I plan on releasing more new music as well as an official video for my song, ‘Estefania’ which is on our latest album, “Buzz of Bees.” I am also working on getting vinyl printed for that album this year as well.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
1.) The desire to be good at what I do.
2.) Wanting to live with joy in my life.
3.) Having a love for music and what it can bring to someone’s life.
My advice is to go with your heart. Do things you love until you find that one, or more, thing that really inspires you. Stay tuned to what drives you and avoid the toxic things and people that don’t inspire you. Also, give yourself room to fail and learn gradually. Nobody is great at what they do immediately.
All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?
Right now, I am just trying to figure out how to navigate the drop in music work due to Hurricane Helene that hit our area of WNC. I play lots of gigs to finance my production of albums and to run my music business. So my biggest challenge is to raise money from different sources.
Right now I deliver food for Door Dash part-time, work as a bartender, and I am starting to teach singing lessons as well as songwriting.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://stephenevansmusic.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/stephenevansmusic
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/stephenevansmusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@StephenEvansmusic
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/stephenevansmusic
- Other: https://bsky.app/profile/stephenevansmusic.bsky.social
Image Credits
1 – Elliot Schwartz
2 – Nicole Lachance
3 – Neal McClure
4 – Nicole Lachance
5 – Scot Evans
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
