TODD STEPHEN | INTERVIEW + TRACK REVIEW
- Jun 25
- 5 min read
Some songs are about getting somewhere. Highway 31 is about everything that happens along the way.
For Michigan songwriter Todd Stephen, the open road isn’t simply a backdrop for another country song. It’s a place where memories are made, families reconnect, and the ordinary moments of life become the ones worth remembering. Drawing from decades of performing, songwriting and his career as a paramedic, Stephen writes with the understanding that happiness rarely arrives through grand gestures. More often, it’s found around a bonfire, beside a quiet lake, or somewhere between the city and a familiar destination.
His latest single, Highway 31, captures that feeling perfectly. It’s a love letter to the annual tradition of “heading up north,” a journey generations of Michiganders instantly understand, while remaining relatable to anyone who’s ever packed the car, rolled the windows down and chased the promise of somewhere that feels like home.
We caught up with Todd to discuss storytelling, road trips, Detroit resilience, the healing power of music, and why the simplest moments often become the ones we remember forever.
TRACK REVIEW -
Highway 31 opens with warm banjo picking and a memorable guitar riff that takes its time before the vocals arrive. It’s a confident introduction, allowing the instrumentation to paint the picture before the story begins. From the very first moments, Todd Stephen sets the scene, transporting listeners onto an open highway with the windows down and summer stretching out ahead.
What really makes this track shine is its sense of build. The pre-chorus line, “10 more miles to go,” creates the perfect lift into a huge, singalong chorus that feels both nostalgic and uplifting. The banjo continues to weave effortlessly through the arrangement, adding an authentic country flavour without ever becoming overbearing. Even the guitar solo understands its role. It’s tasteful, melodic and never tries to steal the spotlight, instead serving the song and bringing the journey to a satisfying close. Highway 31 is country songwriting at its most genuine, proving that sometimes the best stories are the ones that simply invite you along for the ride.
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“Highway 31” feels less like a road and more like a destination people spend their whole lives trying to reach. What does that highway represent emotionally beyond the miles themselves?
I wanted to write a road trip song that specifically spoke to the people of Michigan, but could also be enjoyed by anyone who loves a summer road trip.
If you live in Michigan, then you understand what the phrase “going up north” means. The majority of people who live in Michigan have a destination in mind when you say “up north,” whether it’s a family cottage that’s been passed down for generations or a resort town like Traverse City, Houghton Lake or Caseville. The idea of heading up north is something every Michigander can identify with and relate to.
Highway 31 is the road my family takes to get to our cottage in Pentwater, a destination that has been enjoyed by our family for decades.
Your songs seem obsessed with movement, highways, sunsets, lakes and road trips, yet they often feel like they’re searching for stillness. Have you spent more of your life chasing the next place, or trying to appreciate where you already are?
Well, even though music is my passion, my current career is as a paramedic. I suppose that if you spend a great deal of your time dealing with disaster and human drama, you naturally daydream about escaping to a place where life is easier, simpler and more peaceful.
Country music often celebrates freedom, but your songwriting feels more interested in belonging. Do you think those two ideas are connected, or are they sometimes at odds with each other?
I believe that a well-written song draws the listener in and gets them invested in the story, the characters and the outcome.
I do feel that the ideas of freedom and belonging are connected because they’re both part of the human experience of wanting to enjoy even a small moment of life with the people who are important to you.
After performing for decades in bands and on stages of every size, what truths about people have remained surprisingly consistent, no matter how much the world has changed around you?
The simple truth I always come back to is that people use music as a way of coping with the stresses of life.
Music is a form of therapy, whether you’re listening to a song that touches your heart or one that inspires you to become the best version of yourself.
As artists, we have a tremendous responsibility to wield that power thoughtfully because a song can literally change a person’s life.
The imagery in “Highway 31” feels incredibly cinematic: bonfires, dust trails, northern lights, whiskey and long drives. When you’re writing, are you building stories, memories or entire worlds for listeners to step into?
Maybe all of the above.
I want listeners to feel personally invested in the words I sing and be able to relate them to experiences they’ve had themselves. I’ve spent many years honing that skill as a songwriter.
When I was younger and fronting rock bands, I wrote much more abstractly.
I suppose I’ve worked hard to become comfortable pulling back the curtain and letting people in.
There’s a warmth in your music that feels earned rather than nostalgic. How do you celebrate the past without getting trapped inside it?
Songs are time capsules. They’re like Polaroid snapshots of our lives and what we were feeling and experiencing at that particular moment.
There’s plenty of value in looking to the past as a guide for what your future path should be.
Detroit has a reputation for resilience, grit and reinvention. How much of the city still lives inside your songwriting, even when your songs are set far from where you grew up?
I think the spirit of Detroit lives inside me as an artist and helps fuel my passion and determination to succeed.
As a musician, I can think of no better place to have paid my dues than the streets, bars and clubs of Detroit. You learn to develop a thick skin and a resilience that’s uniquely Detroit.
You can’t take that away from me or any other artist who came up through this city. I could do an entire interview on this subject alone. If you can earn respect and recognition in Detroit, you can do it anywhere.
Many artists become more cynical as they get older, but your music seems to find wonder in simple things. Has that perspective come naturally, or is optimism something you’ve had to actively fight for?
Believe me, as a career paramedic, I’ve certainly had to fight for optimism.
But the world is beautiful too. You just have to remind yourself to look for it and remain open to it.
There is real beauty in simplicity.
“Beaches and Bonfires” and “Highway 31” both suggest that some of life’s most meaningful moments happen far away from spotlights and big stages. Do you think modern life has made people underestimate the value of ordinary experiences?
I think influencer culture has created the false perception that people can’t be happy unless they’re surrounded by excess.
I’d like my music to remind people that they are responsible for creating their own happiness, and that happiness can come from anything. It can look and feel however you want it to.
Life doesn’t need to be extravagant to be meaningful.
If someone hears “Highway 31” twenty years from now while driving toward a place they’ve never been before, what do you hope they’re carrying with them by the time the song ends?
I hope that by the end of the song they have a picture in their minds of what the perfect trip “up north” in Michigan looks like to me, my family and my friends.
Maybe they’ll relate to it, and it’ll remind them of their own special place and the people they love travelling there with.
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