About.
Originally from Atlanta, Scott Stepakoff arrived in Nashville in 2004 after spending 5 years as the lead singer in the rock band Turtle Grove. Known for his outstanding lyrical and vocal abilities, Stepakoff aims to always deliver a song in an honest and soulful way. Since moving to town, Stepakoff has landed cuts with multiple top artists such as Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, Kelsea Ballerini, Jake Owen, Brandy Clark, Walker Hayes, Kip Moore and others. He co-wrote Kip Moore’s top 20 hit single “She’s Mine,” as well as Kip’s debut single, “Mary Was The Marrying Kind,” which opened a lot of doors.
Stepakoff is currently working with many new up and coming artists, such as Kelsey Hart, whose song he co-wrote (“Life With You”), went viral and is climbing the country radio charts. He also co-wrote 3 songs on the Tigirlily Gold (winner ACM Award for best new duo) debut album, Blonde, including the title track. Although he spends most of his time writing with and for other artists, Stepakoff also enjoys recording his own stuff, showcasing his abilities as an artist in addition to a songwriter. In July of 2019, he released an album titled Creatures of Love, and in 2022, he released Once Upon a Highway. Most recently he has released the singles, “162” and “The Things You Don’t Like About Me.” Stepakoff is a staff writer for the Nashville based publisher, Smack Songs.
My Story.
I spent the good part of my 20s as the singer in a Southern Rock inspired jam band, called Turtle Grove. We played a lot of shows up down California and were starting to develop a pretty decent following when I kind of hit a wall with it creatively and personally. I knew I loved writing songs and singing them, but I felt drawn to more of a stable “life at home” kind of thing. I had been working on my feelings about all this in counseling and found it very helpful, so I began thinking I might be good at helping others.
My last two years in L.A were spent in a Master’s program working toward becoming a marriage and family therapist. I was particularly interested in helping bands work on their problems and treating the band as a family. When I finished my Master’s, I was faced with a tough decision between staying on the West coast, where sunsets were born, and moving back to Atlanta. I had been living in LA for nine years at this point, and frankly was pretty lonely. There were a lot of beautiful girls and perfect weather, but I just had a feeling I wasn’t going to find my angel in that city.
I was missing the South and the seasons, so I decided to move back to where I grew up. I got accepted to a Doctoral program at the Georgia School of Professional Psychology and was about to start when I sort of panicked at the thought of doing five more years of school, and decided not to take that road.
Around that same time, after only three months in Atlanta, I met Jody. She was the woman I had been looking for, and who would become my compass and my rock. She really saw me struggling and challenged me to honor the singer-songwriter guy inside me that I had been trying to put away.
After several failed attempts to have a more traditional “day job,” I decided to figure out a way to make music the center of my life without pursuing an artist career. I started listening to Country radio and became obsessed with lyric-driven songs, and learning how to make my own. With the urging and encouragement of my wife, I soon began the transition to learning the craft of songwriting with the goal of writing songs for other artists. We moved to Nashville in 2004, and I got a publishing deal after a year or so.
For most of my time in Nashville, I’ve been singularly focused on writing songs for country radio artists to cut and release. While that is still the goal, I have begun to enjoy recording and releasing my own stuff that tends to be a little more raw and personal. Thank you for following along and stay tuned for more music and news....
