Into the Great Wide Open with Actor Ryan Paevey

Paul was born in Utah with half a heart—born a “blue baby.” He had his first operation at 22 days old. It was not likely he would live, but he did. His life was saved again at ages 13 and at 14, when he had reconstructive heart surgery. Much of his childhood was spent in hospitals, so it certainly wasn’t an easy life as far as his health was concerned. He took piano lessons at 8, but the music he really loved at the time was Duran, Duran, Wham, and Rush, so piano lessons just didn’t stick.

At 16, his best friend Dave, who was a musician, healthy, well-liked, and someone Paul greatly admired, was hit by a car and killed. He was devastated and at that point felt completely drawn back to the piano. He was depressed and turned inward, but discovered that the tone of pressing the piano keys had a huge effect on him. He became obsessed, playing for hours on end every day.

Before he turned 18, he’d written his first concerto. He started arranging hymns. At the same time, he was listening to both Mozart, Rush, and George Winston. All the while he was continuing to deal with his health issues. Then more family tragedy. Paul’s brother, who was having a psychiatric breakdown, was tasered and killed by police. Another terrible event that had a major impact on his life.

Miraculously, in 2010, Paul received a heart transplant. The heart came from a young man in his early 20’s, who had committed suicide. Imagine having to process that information as you heal? The surgery was a success, and Paul is very grateful. He jokes that he feels like he has a new Porsche in his chest.

Paul is someone who has the will to live, and still the tenacity to build his own incredible career. In addition to being a pianist, he’s also a prolific composer, a producer, and ran his own record company, signing other successful artists. He’s huge in the streaming world with over 30 million monthly. And he does this all the while dealing with a failing heart.

A few years ago, on a hunch, he and his wife Tina decided to move to Nashville from Salt Lake City. He’s always loved country music and realized how much he wanted to be in a major music center. Within two years here, he sold his publishing to Ole (now Anthem) for a multi-million-dollar price, he scored a Dove Award for a Christmas project he did with Michael W. Smith’s producer, he started his own podcast, “All Heart,” on the American Songwriternetwork of podcasts. He’s a gregarious man and continues to build great partnerships with the likes of Thompson Square, who has two duets on Paul’s upcoming album. That same new project also has collaborations with artists from a variety of genres like pop star David Archuleta, Tyler Glenn (Neon Trees), Ty Herndon, Matt Hammit and others.

The new album, The Broken Miracle, is a memoir type album, following the story of his life and it’s based on the biographical fiction novel of the same name, which was written by J.D. Netto.

This album is his story as you can see by some of the titles. It closely follows his life, including his separation from the Mormon church—an obviously difficult step on an already difficult path. But Paul is resilient and full-of-life.