Alabama singer Sarah Reeves, born in Huntsville and raised in Athens, has been on a career surge lately.
Her catchy inspirational song “More Than Enough,” aimed at uplifting those bouncing back from toxic relationships, recently hit the Top 10 in iHeart Radio’s adult contemporary song chart, putting her alongside headliners like Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga, and garnering rotation airplay on Sirius Radio “The Pulse” pop channel 5.
“Women have been drawn to the lyrics of this song,” Reeves said in a phone interview from Texas, where she now lives. “I’ve become a lot more vulnerable in my music.”
Reeves last year landed her first movie role in the upcoming film, “God’s Here,” where she shares a scene with former TV “Hercules” star Kevin Sorbo, and she also provided five songs and wrote the soundtrack. The movie will premiere Nov. 2 at a theater in Granbury, Texas, where it was filmed, and will soon be available for digital streaming in November on Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, DirecTV and other media.
Reeves got her start in church and in recording studios built by her father, John Mark “Hershey” Reeves, a sound engineer who also did work at Muscle Shoals, including background vocals and songwriting. “He was in the whole Muscle Shoals scene of music,” Reeves said. “He worked with the Swampers and Mac McAnally, the Oak Ridge Boys, Kenny Rogers. He was in the thick of all of that. There’s some deep roots there in my family.”
He also helped found Sound Cell Studio in Huntsville. “He helped start it and build it and we grew up going over there recording,” Reeves said of Sound Cell. “I recorded my first CD there. Then he ended up building us a studio on our property at our house. We did the majority of music and recording at my house.”
Hershey Reeves also owned his own aluminum construction company, building awnings, and was a worship leader at Oakmont Baptist in Oakmont and later New Life Assembly of God in Athens.
“My dad led worship in our church,” she said. “I started singing harmony with him at the church.”
When Reeves was about 12, her father fell off a ladder and was out of work for weeks, staying home with a broken leg. He tutored his daughter on singing and keyboards, building on piano lessons she started at age five.
She began to establish herself as a teen singer on the Christian music circuit and at age 21 moved to Nashville, where she branched out into work writing soundtracks for documentaries and movie trailers and had a recording contract with Curb Records. Since 2009, she has released five extended plays, six studio albums and 26 singles.
She told her agent she was interested in acting, at the same time “God’s Here” writer, director and actor Bill McAdams Jr. was looking to cast a female Christian singer-songwriter who could provide songs and also write a musical score for the movie.
McAdams picked Reeves. “I had gone through a divorce after being married for 10 years,” said Reeves, now 35. “The first Christmas I spent single alone was super weird, and hard, and I wrote a song about it. This movie is similar. It’s about loss during the holidays. Everything lined up.”
That song, “Christmas Feels Different This Year,” fills an important scene in the movie.
Reeves plays the wife of the lead character, played by McAdams.
Both McAdams and Reeves had recently been divorced, and a romance began during the filming of the movie.
“We met on the set almost a year ago for this movie and fell in love,” Reeves said. “We have similar backgrounds and similar stories. It’s kind of crazy how it’s all been this real-life fairytale.”
The two got married on Sept. 30, 2024.
“This is like a side story, but I feel it turns into the headlines every time,” Reeves said. “Now, I’m married to Bill.”
After the personal struggles that prompted her hit song, it seems Reeves has emerged on the other side stronger.
“Faith has kept me grounded,” Reeves said. “My relationship with Jesus is number one; it always has and always will be. Everything in my life revolves around that.”
Her Christian faith still shapes her music, Reeves said.
“I felt like God has called me,” she said. “He’s put me in this position where I’m able to speak to people. When I play shows, I tell stories and I’m able to talk to people about my life and what I’ve been through and how God saved me. These people are crying.”
Reaching people outside a church setting has been more fulfilling that reaching them in it, she said.
“These people are seeing hope for the first time,” she said. “That’s super meaningful.”
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