Stephen Barker Liles of Love and Theft talks about his new solo music

Stephen Barker Liles. Photo Credit: Elle Hobbs.

Stephen Barker Liles of the CMA-nominated country duo Love and Theft spoke about his new Christian music solo single “Always Been.”

Liles released the song on Friday, September 26th, and it coincides with the Rhett Walker tour, which Liles is on this fall.

On his new Christian music single “Always Been,” Liles said, “It’s different and it has been really cool!

Liles continued, “A year and a half ago, I was going to this writing session with my buddy, and we got in the session. He told me, ‘Hey, you remember that song that we wrote a long time ago?’ and I told him ‘yeah!’ He was like ‘we should use that same melody and we should rewrite it’.”

“We are better writers now and we weren’t doing anything with that song, but the melody was so good, and I remembered the song,” Liles admitted.

Liles enlisted his 11-year-old son, Jett Barker, to help him create the song’s lyric video.

“Then, I felt it could be a really good Christian song. As we started writing it, something felt different,” Liles noted. “I was like ‘Wow, this is really weird. I love this. This is really good.”

“When I cut the vocals on it, it was emotional. It has been a long time since I had written a Christian song, and it turned out to be ‘Always Been’,” Liles said. “So then, the next time I got with him I decided to write more Christian songs.”

“For a year, I just wrote only Christian songs,” he admitted. “I also had a solo pop record ready to put out. I had songs. I also went to the CRS of Christian music down in Orlando, Florida, this past summer, which is called Momentum,” he said.

“I gave it a show and went down there to see what everything was all about.  That was where I met Rhett Walker, and we became friends. A week later, he invited me to go on tour with him,” Liles elaborated.

“All of a sudden, I’m on tour with Rhett Walker and I realized that I had to get a song out. I wanted to lead with ‘Always Been’ because it’s the song that started me on this journey,” Liles explained.

“I used to lead worship at my church in my youth group when I was in high school and college,” he recalled. “I’m a preacher’s kid so I know the Christian music world.”

“I moved to Nashville to become a songwriter, really,” he admitted. “Then, I became an artist, and then, I fell into Love and Theft, and that happened so fast.”

“I just feel like God’s been working on my heart. I really like the fact that my songs can get played to a lot of people that don’t normally listen to Christian music because of my background, and because I’ve been in country music,” he explained.

“This past weekend I played the Destin Songwriters Festival, and they didn’t ask me what my set list was. They just knew that I’ve written some hits for other people, and they wanted me there,” he said.

“I played my Martina McBride song ‘Wrong Baby Wrong’ at that festival,” he said. “So, it has been so much fun!”

Liles hopes to do more work in the Christian music world because he has a whole album of new music ready to go and be released in the near future.

“My Love and Theft bandmate, Eric Gunderson, mixed and mastered the single ‘Always Been’,” Liles revealed. “Also, Eric is mixing my new single, which is called ‘Army of Angels’ literally this weekend.”

In his Love and Theft shows, he revealed that “If You Ever Get Lonely” is one of the only ballads that they play live. “That’s a good one,” he admitted. “It’s really cool. It’s a John Waite song. That’s one of the only outside songs we’ve covered. John Waite recorded it and we ended up making it heard more.”

On his new musical direction, he said, “I think I’m excited because my sound is fresh and also unique in the Christian market. It’s different but it’s still me. I’m doing everything from scratch myself.”

‘In The Blind’ Podcast

Otherwise, things with Love and Theft have been going well for Liles. “Love and Theft has been my job, we have our new podcast (In The Blind Podcast) and that is going great, and we have a Wednesday night show that we host, and we are still doing shows,” he said.

A fun fact was that Liles was the inspiration for the Taylor Swift song “Hey Stephen,” which is featured on her 2008 seminal album “Fearless.”

For his fans and supporters, Liles exclaimed, “I am just so pumped for people to hear the rest of my new songs. I’ve got some bangers coming their way!”

“Always Been” is available on digital service providers by clicking here.

For more information on Stephen Barker Liles, follow him on Instagram.

To learn more about Love and Theft, check out their Instagram page.