Today we’d like to introduce you to Braden Rhodes.
Hi Braden, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I grew up in a Christian household. My dad (Kevin Rhodes) was a minister and my mom (Stephanie Rhodes) played piano at church. We would travel to a new church every week for about ten years before they eventually stepped back from it and became a member of my grandfather’s church, Connection Point (CPC) in Jackson, Missouri. Throughout this whole time I was homeschooled by my mom, who taught both me and my sister for ten years. She taught me piano when I was six and showed me everything she knew. I was kind of off or on about God at that point in my life. I felt like I “understood” the gospel and church and everything in between but I never really clicked with it for a while. I always respected God and I felt a love for Him, I just didn’t see Him as a very personal one. I felt like I needed Him as a kid and I just kind of stepped away from Him as I grew up. I started learning guitar from my youth pastor (Justin Benefield). It hit me like lightning. I couldn’t get enough of it. Everyday I would practice one or two hours and then when I was done, nine times out of ten I found a way to have it back in my hands again. I fell in love with the acoustic and I still hold it dear to my heart today. I had been dating this girl at the time and it fell through pretty hard. My young, homeschooled, teenage heart nearly broke into pieces. I didn’t really know how to respond to my first breakup so I started writing. I wrote poems and songs and letters. They were all super cheesy looking back. But at the time I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I used to listen to a lot of Nirvana and I always wanted to write a song like Kurt. I remember growing my hair out long cause I wanted to look like him lol. This whole time while I was at Connection Point Church (CPC) I was on the worship team. I started on keys but pretty soon after that they moved me to acoustic and then singing and then electric and bass. So I got a lot of hands on experience playing live with a lot of different instruments. I didn’t really want to do all that if I’m being real, they just didn’t really have anybody else to do it. But I enjoyed it. It took me a while to get over my stage fright but once I did, everything just felt right. For the longest time I was so anxious of being seen. But after some time, I started to look forward to Wednesday night youth services when I could show off my new tone or new riffs live. Pretty soon after that, on a whim, I was invited by my youth pastor to go to a church camp. I didn’t really want to go but I felt convicted to in my heart. I remember going there expecting to not have a great time. But about halfway through the week, during worship, I felt God speak to me in a way that I never had before. In the middle of Reckless Love by Cory Asbury, I started to sing. And I felt like I could sing in a way I never had before. I never considered myself a singer but all of a sudden, my voice sounded angelic. It probably wasn’t to anyone around me, but to me, God made my voice sound exactly like I’ve always dreamed it to. I had very little experience in singing up to this point, so I know it was some kind of miracle. I felt like I heard a whisper in the back of my head on the right side saying, “This is what I made you to do.” Immediately this feeling dropped onto me. I fell to my knees and I wept on the floor. I had never felt such shame in my life. I realized in a moment I had run away to a point that the voice of God, which used to be clear to me, had faded. I didn’t remember who I was. But then He found me. Like a friend in a foreign land. A boat in a raging storm. A kid in a campground in small town Missouri. Crying, I prayed and thanked Him. I apologized. I got up and thought about it for a long time. I didn’t tell anyone about this moment. But I went home and started preparing. I would play guitar even more than I used to. I started to play piano again. I picked up some vocal lessons here and there. I started writing worship music to Him. And slowly, they started falling out of me. They were terrible. But at the time, to me, they were the best songs that had ever been written. But I kept going with it. I would write every single day. If it was one line or a whole song. Nothing was gonna stop me from praising Him in my preparation. Then when I was around 18 or 19, I had graduated high-school and was doing online Theological classes on my MacBook Air my parents had bought me for my education. I discovered GarageBand. I spent all night covering and recreating “Where is My Mind” by the Pixies. (In case you hadn’t figured it out yet, for a worship kid, I love so many other genres of music too) This was probably in April. I finished my first year of Bible college online and throughout that summer, I didn’t want to do anything else but make little projects on my MacBook. I took out a loan from my bank for $2,200 and I bought Logic Pro, a bass, a Focusrite interface, some KRK monitors and and a midi keyboard. Two weeks before school went back I wanted to drop out of college. I just didn’t feel the passion for it the way I did about music. I talked to my parents about it, which turned into a little fight. I drove off into town to think for a while and when I came back we discussed switching my major instead of dropping out. I told them how much songwriting and music recording meant to me and they helped me change everything around. I’m very thankful that they convinced me to stay in school. I moved out to Springfield, Missouri and studied at Evangel University for four years. I actually just graduated last week. I got my bachelors degree in music recording / commercial music. Throughout my time there, I met so many incredible Christian people who inspired me both as a person and a musician. I was fortunate enough to produce an entire album by myself called “Worthy Deserving Holy” and a second one for my capstone coming out this September called “Everything”. I’ve gotten to collaborate with so many beautiful people and incredible artists. Looking back, this is exactly what I was made to do. I’ll be doing this my whole life. If I make millions off of it or nothing at all. My whole heart is in it and all I want to do is share my music with the church across the world. Now I’m focusing more on writing songs before I prepare my third album. I’m not fully sure where this one’s going yet, but I guarantee it will all be made to bless my Father’s heart.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
In some ways, it has been both a smooth road and a bumpy one. Some songs come naturally, like they had been there my whole life and were only waiting for me to grab my guitar and speak them into existence. Others I have been holding onto and revisiting for years and they still aren’t “right”. I’m a believer that all songs are already written, even the ones yet to be heard, it’s just our job as songwriters to bring them to fruition. Like a rose bud before it blooms. Our job is to carefully pull back the layers, the pedals to reveal the beautiful flowers. Some of the biggest struggles along the way for me was believing in myself enough to release the music. I remember being so insecure as to what my friends would think. I’ll never forget when I had started dropping my music in college, people would come up to me and tell me they liked my music and I would say, “thank you!” but I didn’t really believe them. I always felt a little embarrassed that my songs didn’t sound like Brandon Lake, Benjamin Hastings, Bethel, Elevation Worship, Cory Asbury. Artists I looked up to and aspired to be. And somewhere along the way I had to do a lot of soul searching to realize, I’ll never be them, and they’ll never be me. Even if I try my best to be almost like them, there’s so much energy and time wasted that I could have spent growing my own character instead of mimicking someone else’s. I’d like to say I’ve found my own at this point but I think it’s constantly changing and improving. But now I believe it when people tell me that my songs meant something to them
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m known for writing and recording my own worship songs. I specialize in writing Christian music both for the church and for the individual Christian. I’m most proud of the music I am currently putting out in my album called “everything” coming out September 2026. I’ll be releasing it one song at a time on the first Friday of every month until the album drops. I think what sets me apart from others is my authenticity. I’m not making music for them to blow up. I don’t want to be on the Christian radio. I don’t want to make TikTok’s style songs to make my music heard. I want to just worship God with my songs the way He always wanted me to. Something intimate between me and Him
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
In my experience and in my field, the best thing you can do to grow as a songwriter and with other people is to write with people who don’t look, sound, write or act like you. Be someone who wants to give more than you want to get. Love what you do and do it all the time. Be a perfectionist. Listen to your heart, you’ll know when a song is right. Use voice memos. If you’re a Christian artist, go to church, get inspiration. Don’t just copy what you hear, be authentic to yourself. Even if it feels embarrassing, painful, awkward. People resonate with the truth. But even more than that, God wants your real self, not anyone you pretend to be. Find somebody you look up to and send them a text. Ask them about their journey. Ask for advice and take notes.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bradenclrhodes
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@bradenclrhodes
- Other: https://linktr.ee/bradenrhodes
