Bio
Ethan Taylor Stephenson is a singer/songwriter in the Americana/Roots tradition, bringing his own blend of traditional picking and songwriting to live audiences around Southern Illinois, where he currently resides. Primarily a one-man act, when not performing with his band the Ethan Stephenson Band, Ethan blends harmonica and acoustic guitar in a style reminiscent of folk musicians of the mid-twentieth century. He is influenced by the folk revival of the 60’s as well as the rise in the Indie music culture and the American roots movement of recent years.
From the age of thirteen, when he received his first guitar, to the present (he is now 26), Ethan has been performing and writing songs; his original catalogue now includes some forty originals. Though he doesn’t play all of these originals today — many of which appear on his first studio album ‘Crossing the Bridge’ recorded at BlueStream Records in his home town of Petersburg, Illinois with his high school band WhoKnew — he continues to play a number of his early songs while always writing and composing new original works.
Having spent the better part of the last decade travelling the country and playing music from Charleston, Illinois to Greeley, Colorado and in between, Ethan has honed his craft as a solo performer in the songwriter tradition. Recently, Ethan has focused his efforts on the storytelling element of his writing in an attempt to capture some of the local nuance of the places he has lived. During his time in Greeley, Colorado, working on his master’s degree in English Literature, Ethan also had the opportunity to professionalize his act, cutting his teeth on the front-range music scene. There he met a number of musicians who have helped him to come into his own as a performing musician.
Returning to his home state of Illinois in 2015, Ethan is currently pursuing a PhD in English Literature at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. He has found a home in the eclectic and impressive music scene of Carbondale, Illinois, where he has written a number of new songs for both his band and solo act. While in Carbondale, he also finished his second studio album, a collection of 12 original songs recorded at Mole Hole Studios between November 2016 and May 2017. He recently released that album ‘Still, ... A Deeper Valley ’ on August 28, 2017 and is proud to have it distributed on various media platforms ( Itunes, Google Play, Apple Music, etc ...). In the time he has remaining in Carbondale, Ethan will continue to write and record his original music. Ethan is currently considering a smaller EP style project with his band.