The Story
Stephen Sylvester grew up in the shadow of his father, Todd, who was a church musician from the time Stephen was very young. He picked up the guitar at age 16 and has only briefly put it down since. Stephen discovered, through his time playing with his dad's church band, that he had a unique and quite soulful voice, and his father encouraged him to hone this talent as he got older.
Several years later Stephen was working as a teacher and playing as a solo musician at bars and coffee shops in and around Mobile, AL, where he grew up. Through the connections made with other local musicians during this time, Stephen found a particular playing and singing style and constantly worked to make it better. He was playing only covers at this time, and was frustrated by how hard it was for him to write good original songs.
Time moved along, and Stephen met the girl of his dreams and married her, giving up his lifestyle of playing music for a while and working as a youth minister. Not long after their wedding, Stephen's wife was diagnosed with leukemia, which devastated both of their families. Recovery took a long time, but eventually his wife did get better, finding ways to deal with the pain and learning to live with her disease. Stephen turned to songwriting as a release from the pressures of life, and he found to his surprise that he could write songs that connected with his audience!
Soon Stephen began inviting his musician friends over to jam in his garage, and the musical chemistry began to flow. His old friend Clay was the first to suggest they start a band, and the two of them began looking for other musicians to connect with. Eventually a five-person lineup was solidified, and the members started toying with the idea of doing a kickstarter campaign to fund an album of original songs. What started as a joke turned into a real fundraiser, and to the great surprise of the band enough money was raised for them to record at the University of Mobile's prestigious Fisher-Brewer recording studio. The resulting EP, called "Down To The Jordan", was released in March of 2016 to resounding praise and acclaim.
Today Stephen plays live shows all over the gulf coast as a solo artist and alongside his musical friends. Stephen is very proud of the songs he writes, and he loves being able to share them with the hundreds of people who attend his concerts. You can hear his music on all digital formats and get physical copies of his album from him personally at his shows.
Stephen is currently working on a full-length album of original music, due to be released in 2019.
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