Howard Gripp Releases I’m Not My Yesterday Between Welcome To Your Life and a Benjy Gaither Duet
An American Faith-Based Songwriter’s Steady Run of 2026 Releases Leads to a New Duet
I’m Not My Yesterday came out on 11 September 2026. It is a self-released single from Howard Gripp, a faith-based songwriter from Stevens Point, Wisconsin, United States. It is also the middle step of a busy autumn: one single before it, one duet after it, and a run of releases that has barely paused for two years.
Howard Gripp’s I’m Not My Yesterday now sits in our playlist below, and the songwriter’s earlier coverage is gathered on his artist profile. PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news sites, brought I’m Not My Yesterday to IndieMusic.News. Press play, then keep reading for the road that led to it.
Howard Gripp Came to I’m Not My Yesterday From Rock Bands, a Record Deal and Two Award Wins
To see where this record fits, start at the beginning. Gripp began playing music at six, behind a drum kit, encouraged by his mother. He went on to play in rock bands, signed a record deal and got radio play abroad.
That first career came with costs. In his own telling, the years on the road brought a struggling marriage, divorce, addiction and depression. The turn came when he met his wife, Michelle, and reconnected with his faith. Serving on a church worship team then gave him a new reason to make music.
The second career has moved quickly. In 2024 he released his debut EP, Rescued Redeemed Forgiven. In 2025 it won Best Christian Album of the Year at the Rampage Music Awards, and his acoustic track He Rescued Me took Best Christian Song of the Year. He has also been a finalist in four categories at the WAMI Awards.
The singles kept coming. Love Rewrote My Story arrived in June 2025, and I Can Feel The Change followed that October. Meanwhile, the summer of 2025 was a run of shows across the Midwest, from Summerfest in Milwaukee in June to the Onefest Christian Music Festival in Cadott in August.
I’m Not My Yesterday Put Howard Gripp in Front of a Full Band Led by Billy Smiley
Then came 2026. Welcome To Your Life opened the year’s releases on 31 July, and I’m Not My Yesterday followed six weeks later.
The new single is a band record. Howard Gripp wrote and arranged it with Billy Smiley, sings it and plays acoustic guitar. Smiley, an original member of the Christian rock band White Heart from 1982, produced it and plays electric and acoustic guitar. He also mixed and mastered it with Billy Whittington.
Around them sits a full studio band. Mike Payne adds electric and acoustic guitars, Chris Brown plays bass and Miles McPherson plays drums and percussion. Jonathan Brown plays both organ and piano, and Ron Hemby sings backing vocals alongside Smiley.
The title carries the idea that runs through all of it. Gripp has written that our past does not have to define our future, and that every day is another chance to grow. I’m Not My Yesterday puts that belief into a single line, which is why it suits a songwriter who has already lived two careers.
What Comes After I’m Not My Yesterday for Howard Gripp, From a Duet to a Vinyl Release
After that, the next release arrived on 23 October 2026. When I Was A Kid features Benjy Gaither and is about the people who shape us when we are young. Gripp has said his mother introduced him to Jesus, and the song looks back at that kind of influence. The release also gathers I’m Not My Yesterday and Welcome To Your Life alongside it, so the three songs now sit together.
So the single has a clear place in the story. The earlier single is now on vinyl too, and Gripp has already shared a live performance of When I Was A Kid from Lansing, Michigan.
Two other songwriters have walked a similar road. Zach Williams fronted the rock band Zach Williams & The Reformation from 2007 to 2012, then signed as a Christian solo artist in 2016 and released Chain Breaker that December. Jason Isbell spent six years in Drive-By Truckers before his solo career, and he recorded Southeastern, released in June 2013, after a stint in rehab. Both built a second chapter on records about where they had been.
That is the space Howard Gripp now works in. I’m Not My Yesterday is not a fresh start so much as proof that the second career is still building.
From the IndieMusic.News curator team: “We placed I’m Not My Yesterday fifth in our Country, Folk-Country, Country Rock Pop playlist, straight after Michael Marcagi’s The Other Side. It is a record about leaving the past behind, and it sits well among songs that tell a story plainly.”
Stream the Single and Follow Howard Gripp as His Second Career Keeps Building
Start with the single, then play When I Was A Kid to hear where the story goes next.
Stream it on Spotify or Apple Music, and follow Howard Gripp on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, SoundCloud, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X and his official site.
