There are artists who follow trends, and then there are artists whose music reflects the lives they have lived. Serenity Stewart belongs firmly in the latter category. A genre spanning vocalist with roots in jazz, vintage soul, musical theater, rock and country, Stewart is entering a new creative chapter with Serenity Brings The Storm, bringing decades of experience into a sound that feels more personal, uninhibited and emotionally charged than anything she has done before.
For Stewart, this chapter is not about becoming someone new. It is about having the confidence and perspective to fully become the artist she has always been. Shaped by years of classical training and live performance, Stewart has long been known for bringing theatricality and emotion to her music. Her latest work takes those qualities in a different direction, drawing from the raw energy of classic rock, the emotional depth of blues, the elegance of jazz and the storytelling traditions of country.
“This project is about freedom,” Stewart says. “I’ve reached a point where I’m not interested in fitting into someone else’s idea of what I should sound like. I want the music to be honest. I want it to have fire and emotion, and most of all, I want people to feel something.”
That freedom is particularly meaningful because Stewart did not simply decide to return to the stage and pick up where she left off. She spent an entire year intensively retraining her voice, rebuilding her performance skills and preparing herself physically and creatively for what she wanted to do next. The process required patience and discipline, but it also reinforced something Stewart has come to believe deeply: ambition does not have an expiration date.
“I think we sometimes assume that as we get older, our dreams are supposed to become smaller,” she says. “I feel exactly the opposite. Experience gives you something you couldn’t possibly have when you were younger. You know yourself better. You know what matters. There is a freedom in that.”
Serenity Brings The Storm brings together musicians whose individual histories span decades, genres and vastly different musical experiences. On percussion, George Skoubis has been playing since the fourth grade and went on to serve as a drum section leader in high school before earning a scholarship to Central Arizona College to study music and architecture. His career has included performances with numerous worship bands and appearances alongside artists including Pat Boone, Wayne Cochran and the CC Ryders, as well as connections and experiences within the broader Motown music community. He has performed before audiences numbering in the tens of thousands and spent part of his career using music in faith-based outreach, including performing with the Christian band Witness.
Guitarist Michael Caporaso’s musical journey began in Summit, New Jersey, where he first played drums before discovering guitar at 14. Growing up just outside New York City during the 1960s and early 1970s exposed him to an extraordinary range of live music, from street musicians in Central Park and Greenwich Village to the American rock and British Invasion artists who would shape his playing. Largely self-taught, Caporaso began performing as a teenager and continued playing with groups in New Jersey, Wisconsin and Arizona.
Paul Phillips also came to guitar through an unconventional path. He started with trumpet before the garage band culture surrounding him in Livonia, Michigan, pulled him toward guitar and later bass. His musical influences expanded to progressive rock and blues, and he continued performing while attending the University of Michigan. After stepping away from playing for nearly two decades, Phillips rediscovered his passion for music and eventually returned to regular performances and jam sessions. Now based in Arizona, he brings a lifetime of musical influences to Serenity Brings The Storm.
Bassist Tom Roche discovered his love of performing as a child growing up in a small Arizona border town. He began with the cornet and played throughout his school years before friends at the University of Arizona convinced him to pick up a bass for their rock band. The instrument stuck. After moving to Phoenix in the early 1980s, Roche continued performing with local bands, and even in retirement, he has never stopped playing. For Roche, music remains a constant source of connection, enjoyment and purpose.
Together, the musicians bring an unusual depth of experience to Serenity Brings The Storm. Their individual histories stretch from rock and blues to soul, worship music and progressive rock, allowing the group to move naturally across genres and generations. A performance can shift from an intimate ballad to blues, rock, soul and country, with Stewart’s voice providing the common thread.
That versatility has been present throughout Stewart’s own career. She first performed publicly at eight years old and went on to develop a career shaped by classical training, jazz, theater and live performance. Her album P.S. I Love You celebrated the Great American Songbook, while her stage work allowed her to explore the music and stories of legendary female vocalists. Those experiences gave Stewart technical discipline, but time has given her something she considers equally valuable: perspective.
“When you’re younger, you can spend so much time worrying about whether you’re doing everything exactly right,” Stewart says. “At this point in my life, I care about whether it’s real. Did I connect with someone? Did the song mean something? Did we create a moment people will remember?”
That philosophy extends well beyond music. Stewart speaks openly about resilience, self expression and the importance of continuing to pursue meaningful work throughout every stage of life. She understands what it means to rebuild, change direction and decide that the next chapter does not have to be dictated by the ones that came before it. It is a message she believes particularly resonates with women who reach a certain age and begin hearing, subtly or explicitly, that they should expect less from themselves.
“There are women with books they haven’t written, businesses they haven’t started, places they haven’t gone and creative parts of themselves they’ve put away for years,” she says. “Why should there be an age when we decide those things no longer matter? If something is still calling you, I think you owe it to yourself to listen.”
For Stewart, music became that call, but returning to it with renewed purpose has also created something she did not necessarily anticipate: community. The musicians of Serenity Brings The Storm bring their own histories, influences and life experiences to the group, and their shared enthusiasm for performing has made the project about more than what happens during a show. There is friendship, connection and the satisfaction of creating something meaningful together at a stage in life when many people are being told they should be winding down.
That may be one reason Stewart’s story extends beyond music. At a time when conversations about aging often center on what people lose, Stewart is interested in what can still be gained. New skills can be learned, new friendships can be formed, creativity can deepen and ambition can grow rather than diminish. Something that appeared to belong to an earlier chapter can take on an entirely different meaning later in life.
The band is now developing original recordings and creative projects designed to capture the energy and emotion of its live performances. Stewart wants the work to retain the spontaneity that makes live music powerful rather than becoming overly polished. For her, the objective is not technical perfection for its own sake, but creating the kind of emotional connection that stays with an audience after the final song.
“I don’t care about being perfect,” she says. “I care about being felt. If someone hears a song or comes to a performance and walks away feeling something they weren’t feeling when they arrived, then we’ve done our job.”
That philosophy could just as easily describe Stewart’s approach to this stage of her life. She is not trying to recreate an earlier version of herself. Instead, she is taking the training, experience, setbacks, successes and lessons accumulated over decades and using them to create something that could only exist now. For Stewart, that may be the most powerful part of getting older. The next chapter does not have to be quieter than the last one. Sometimes, it can be the one where you finally turn up the volume.
Written in partnership with Tom White
