"That's the life God gave me, and that's how He made me. I want that to be reflective in my music".
Eli Gable has been a rising Christian artist for 5+ years, and is currently touring with Rend Collective. He kindly agreed to sit and chat with me at their show in Roanoke, Virginia about his country roots and seeking of God.
Interview by Cody Cooksey
February 19, 2026
Tell me what it's been like to tour with Rend Collective?
This is our third tour together, we did their spring and fall tour last year, and we're doing this tour now. It's been great. They are joyful and fun people off stage as they are on stage. It's really fun when you've done it three times now. I mean, literally, by the end of this tour, we'll have done this together over 100 times. So it's just a well oiled machine. At this point, I think we all know how to give each other what we need, both on and off the stage. Tonight, right before I got out on stage, I had been pretty dreary all day. I haven’t had sunlight, I didn't sleep well, and then I was hanging out with Daniel, the drummer, and Chris, lead singer. We were just talking about Rocky for 40 minutes, and at that moment, that's what I needed, and they knew that and they were just good to have a good time with me. I can't say enough good things about those guys and touring with them. It's been very fun. They've been super welcoming and inviting for me, and they've never made me feel like a second class artist or anything like that. They've all become mentors to me in different ways too, and helped me out in lots of different ways.
What would you say is one of your favorite memories with Rend Collective?
There's been a lot. The best things are the late night conversations. There's lots of great conversations that we've had that have really impacted me. It's really cool. Also doing 10 minutes of burpees with Chris and Daniel in Colorado. I don't think I’ll ever forget that.
What is your personal favorite song off of Outskirts?
My favorite song changes every day, honestly. I love them all for different reasons. I think the one song that I'm going to be the most excited to show my kids is Beautiful Pain. That's one that just feels a little different than the rest of the songs. It's low tempo, so it's not the highest streamed or anything like that, but I just really love it. I love the meaning behind it. I think that with my music moving forward, a lot of it is carrying that message and stuff about the necessity of pain in the trials that we go through. So it just felt like when I wrote that, something kind of shifted in me, and I started to find my artistry a little bit.
How do you carry a country aesthetic into Christian music?
Here’s the thing, I'm not trying to be a country artist, but I'm not trying to change who I am to be a Christian artist either. I grew up listening to country music. That kind of kickstarted this whole thing. I moved to Nashville, Tennessee five and a half years ago because I wanted to be a country songwriter. What's funny is I don't really fit in the Christian world because I'm too country, but I didn't fit in the country world because I was too Christian. I grew up in a small town, and a lot of my friends were rednecks. I wasn't the most redneck or anything like that, but that's the world that I come from. My dad was blue collar, and I don't want to change anything about that. That's the life God gave me, and that's how He made me. I want that to be reflective in my music. There's a lot of people being more country in Christian music and it’s sick. I love The Band Reeves, there’s obviously Anne Wilson who has put out some great stuff. Ben Fuller has been doing more country stuff, which has been really cool.
Where have you seen God in your life lately?
It’s funny how you see Him all the time, if you're willing to have trust in Him. I went to a conference at the beginning of the year, and the theme was the meticulous providence of God. The idea that God works all things together for His good, for our good, and for His glory. That's just been a reminder in my friendships and different relationships in my life. It just keeps on coming up. You start to notice the little things that seem to just perfectly work out or fall into place. With that viewpoint, even when things go bad, it's like, “Okay, God, what story are You writing now?”. I get the friendship of Christ, and I felt like I had a bit of a grasp on the idea of the humanity of God. So now I'm like “Can you show me the “Godness” of God? Can you remind me that you are Alpha and Omega at the beginning and the end, the Creator of the universe?”. I just saw Him doing that throughout the year. It's just really grown my strength. The simple fact is how we forget that He's got the whole world, and the thing is that I believe that. I think this is for my good, your good, and for God's. Even the junky things that happen end up being for that. I've just been looking through my day and have been able to say, "God, thank You. Thank You for the things I see and how they are working out, even when I don't know how they're gonna work out, you know?
Why otters? (Eli has a well known fascination of otters)
Dude, otters, we need more otters for the record. There needs to be more instances in life where you look out of your window and you're like “Oh, there's an otter”. They are joy machines. They're like the cutest animals ever. All that they want to do is play. You see them in the wild, and it's not like how when you see a dog in the wild, that's a wolf, you know? Otters, though, they can be vicious when provoked. You see them out in the wild, they're playing with each other. They're the most adorable things ever. It was actually a coworker of mine who kind of got me into otters. I used to work for a marketing firm for funeral homes, which is what I did for most of my adult life. We just started using otters in a lot of materials, and I was like, yeah, I like you, Everything is better with an otter. There's not one situation in life that you can think of that would be worse if you had an otter in it. If right now you and I were having this conversation and there was a little otter that we were petting, that would be better. I think that would be a lot better, actually.