Ryan Stevenson Shares the Story Behind New Single "Rich (Featuring Deana Carter)"

By Timothy Yap Apr 20, 2024 04:13 PM EDT

Dove Award-winning singer/songwriter Ryan Stevenson releases "Rich" featuring country music artist Deana Carter. The song also features country icon Vince Gill on guitar. Written by Ryan and Brent Loper, the song is now available on all digital platforms.

The bottom line ain't always what it seems
And the treasures of your heart can change how you see everything
The most special things in life, they don't come with a dollar sign
You don't have to have a fortune to your name
To be rich in different ways

"I wrote the whole thing based on a phrase my mother would always say," Ryan tells Woman's World, sitting in a conference room with Deana in the Franklin, TN office of Gotee Records. "We were pretty poor. I grew up in a 940 sq. foot trailer house in Oregon and we didn't have much of anything."

He recalls a pivotal moment when he saw his mom pay for groceries with food stamps. He didn't know what food stamps were and when he asked her about it, she broke down and cried. "She said, 'That's for people who need help getting back on their feet and we're struggling.'"

Ryan says something that day unraveled in him. "I felt like, 'We are poor and we're less than,' but through her tears, my mom said, 'We might not have a lot of money, but we're really rich in ways that matter, in our health, in our friends, in our community so we're probably the richest people.' I thought about that all these years later, and it inspired this song."

A GRAMMY® and Billboard Music Award nominee with a Dove Award and multiple ASCAP Christian Music Awards to his credit, Ryan Stevenson's music has provided a soundtrack of hope and encouragement for listeners around the world for more than a decade. Co-writer of TobyMac's Platinum-certified, 2014 GRAMMY-nominated #1 hit "Speak Life," Stevenson was further propelled into the spotlight with his own Gold-certified, Dove Award-winning 2016 chart-topper "Eye of the Storm," which held the top spot at Christian radio for 16 weeks and has garnered more than 40 million streams to date on Spotify.

Spending seven years as a paramedic before signing with Gotee Records in 2013, the Pacific Northwest native's fourth full-length Gotee set, ABLE, released last year. Known for such radio favorites as "No Matter What" (feat. Bart Millard), "Amadeo (Still My God)," and "When We Fall Apart" (feat. Vince Gill & Amy Grant), Stevenson's music has achieved six #1 Billboard charting radio singles (four as an artist or featured artist and two as a co-writer).

He has toured with top artists including TobyMac, MercyMe and Newsboys, and Stevenson made his debut on the legendary Grand Ole Opry last year. Author of Eye of the Storm: Experiencing God When You Can't See Him (Harvest House), he also hosts the "Weathering the Storm" Podcast on K-LOVE's AccessMore, where his guests have included Amy Grant, TobyMac, MercyMe's Bart Millard and The Shack author Paul Young, among many others.

For more information, visit ryanstevensonmusic.com or gotee.com.