Faith, unity and courage

He is the genuine article. He walks onto stage with just an acoustic guitar, and within seconds of starting his song, you are drawn in, not just by his lilting Celtic vocals and superb imaginative fretwork, but also by the fact that Steph Macleod has done the hard miles, and is a survivor. You see, Steph's story is one of hope from despair and freedom from addiction. His story is infused in his songs, all of which are self-composed and many of which are biographical.

Steph is big and bearded - the archetypical Scot through and through - and occasionally you may see him appear wearing his kilt with a full Celtic rock band behind him. Now he is an internationally acclaimed singer and songwriter who has performed with the likes of Matt Redman, Martin Smith and the Rend Collective. His music features regularly on BBC (Radio 2 and Songs of Praise) as well as other broadcasting channels such as UCB.

But his life wasn't always like this. In his darkest years he was hopelessly addicted, struggling with mental health issues, and living rough on the streets of Edinburgh. And then his life changed dramatically. Such a radical transformation in such a short period of time, he says, is solely down to his radical encounter with Jesus Christ. He says that nothing else is as important to him in his life than sharing what God has done to transform him. And this comes across strongly not only in his music, but also in the manner in which he approaches and interacts with people. 

 Steph is a gentle giant, and it's hard not to notice the compassion in his eyes as he talks animatedly about the need for better mental health care and awareness, for understanding, for acceptance, for healing. "The more we talk, listen and ask questions, the more we come to understand; it’s OK to come to God in our brokenness. I’ve seen and experienced first hand how understanding and compassion draws healing and hope from a place of brokenness and fear” he says.

His new album Gold is his third, and is a heady mix of folk, rock, Celtic and Americana. I interviewed him outside the Skatepark at Creation Fest 2018 to find out more about what inspires Steph Macleod and a little more about his personal story. It's a story of faith, unity and courage. Here's the interview:



Creative Commons License
Faith, unity and courage by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

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