Ryan Ellis made a seriously great song of faith with “Heart of the Father”

Ryan Ellis and DOE put on a melismatic clinic in a tune firmly rooted in the junction between Christian music and R&B.

We recently stumbled on to the musical stylings of Ryan Ellis and immediately added him to our playlists. Ellis just released his first studio album this year, and it’s already got us stoked for what’s to come. We were especially blown away by the tremendous tune “Heart of the Father.” 

“Heart of the Father” is a tune firmly planted at the junction of Christian music and R&B. The tune is a powerful one that gives rise to goosebumps from the first chorus. There’s just an exceptionally jubilant quality to it that makes it instantly memorable and spurs a desire to hear more from this exceptional artist. 

Supported by an excellent performance by guest artist DOE, Ellis puts on a melismatic clinic with a soaring tenor and vocal flexibility that is the envy of any artist in the genre. We especially appreciated their vocal harmonies, which bring the whole tune together. These elements come together to make an emotional midsection in which DOE hits some notes that we expected to break glass. 

In an explanation video, featured below, Ellis explains that the whole song came together by chance. A worship pastor at his church had introduced Ellis to the chorus line and the artist was so touched by the melody and lyrics that he felt inspired to finish it.

Ellis explained that while working on the tune, a sound engineer who happened to be in the room – and who was off duty – just started setting up recording equipment. Soon, they were recording the demo of “Heart of the Father.”

As Ellis recalled: 

“The whole session even felt like it was magical … The engineer was kinda hearing what we were writing and so he started setting microphones up and started putting it on the speakers and got the piano mic’d up … it was like this dude was off-hours and he was just there and felt like ‘This song is fire.’” 

From there, they got a drummer to come in and lay down a beat and soon they had the demo in-hand. The next day they showed it to their label and the rest is history. Now the tune stands as one of the best on Ryan Ellis’ self-titled debut album, from which there are several more songs worthy of radio play. 

Hear more from Ryan Ellis on YouTube and Spotify, then follow this emerging artist on his website to keep up with all his releases.