Selah is starting a new musical chapter with the release of their latest album, Step Into My Story. The record, which marks the first release on their own 3Cre8tive label, after more than 20 years on Curb, is timely not only for Todd Smith, Allan Hall and Amy Perry, who make up Selah, but for everyone else, especially now.

“If you look at the millions and millions and billions of stories of people who universally, this is probably the first time that we’ve all experienced the same thing with COVID to some degree,” Todd told Everything Nash. “No matter what your income level is, your race, where you live, everyone has been affected by it and the stories that are there. And so even when we came up with the album title, we were going between a couple of songs, but we were like, ‘Step Into My Story’ is the summary, and everything else falls underneath that.

“And too, we want to hear other people’s stories. How has God stepped into your story?’ he added. “It’s this thing of, you gotta take the next step and you gotta jump. We had to jump.”

The album’s title track was inspired by their manager, Marcus Rixon, whose own story has the fingerprints of God written all over it. Born in Kolkata, India, Marcus had a dream of being involved in music somehow, which seemed impossible given his circumstances.

“He grew up in a one-room house,” Todd recalled. “He would sleep on a bed. His parents would sleep on the floor. He has very loving parents, but they did not have access to a lot of finance. He posted recently, ’10 years ago today, I was able to work a job, make enough money to buy an airplane ticket to come to America to go to college, with $50 in my pocket.'”

Marcus went to college in Kentucky, hitchhiking to Nashville, where he eventually got an internship at the renowned Blackbird Studios. That role led to him finding jobs in management, ultimately managing Selah. What makes the story even more unique is, both Marcus and his sister were sponsored by OneChild, which helps support children in other countries — a cause that Selah has been supporting for years.

“I started to reflect on, look at the way that God was always there with him, walking with him,” Todd shared. “He had this dream and he had to work to buy the plane ticket, and he had to get on the plane, and he had to go to Kentucky and go to college and take this next step, take a risk, and look at what has happened.”

While the members of Selah may not have had to leave their country to pursue their passion, they do know what it is like to take risks, and to have those risks paid off.

“I left Knoxville and moved to Nashville,” Allan recounted. “I left everybody I knew, It was only three hours; it was not India. It’s only three hours away, but for an 18-year-old kid, you’re leaving everything and heading into this. And you’re heading into this industry where everyone tells you that it’s almost impossible to make a living and impossible to succeed, but I knew I wanted to try. I just felt God’s fire in my heart saying, ‘Go. See what I’ve got for you.”

Selah didn’t know, when they were laying the groundwork for Step Into My Story, and its release on their own label, that much of the world would shut down because of a global pandemic, but they remain undeterred in their vision that this is the next step in their journey.

“Building this label, even though it’s not money in the pocket now, it has been a wonderful thing,” Allan reflected. “And I think hopefully we’re seeding into our future. That’s kept us focused and active during this time.”

Purchase Step Into My Story at Selahonline.com.