Chris Strei Proves You Can Fall Apart and Rise Again on “One Day at a Time”

Chris Strei does not just talk about redemption, he walks it every day. His new single, “One Day at a Time,” is not a polished sermon; it is a confession put to music. The Brantford-born singer-songwriter marks his fifth year of sobriety with something deeper than celebration. The track carries the weight of someone who has rebuilt their life brick by brick and knows the work is never finished.

The sound sits somewhere between country folk grit and the quiet honesty of a church pew. There are echoes of Chris Stapleton and Tom Petty, yet Strei brings a spiritual core that refuses to pretend the darkness was not real. Produced by Iain McNally, with Randy Cooke of Smash Mouth on drums, the song feels crafted, not manufactured. Every line feels lived in, every chord grounded.

What separates this from most recovery anthems is Strei’s refusal to divide faith and struggle. Scripture appears, but never as a lecture. He sings like someone who has cursed at heaven and leaned on it in the same breath. It plays like testimony, rough-edged and real. You can hear the relapse fears, the miracles, the nights he nearly broke, and the mornings he got up anyway.

The central image of life as a mosaic of light and dark rings true because Strei does not pretend to have solved anything. Pain and peace coexist, and both have a place in the story. You do not need to share his faith for the message to land. “One Day at a Time” hits as a reminder that strength is not a moment, it is a choice you make again tomorrow.

In a music world obsessed with glossy perfection, Strei’s sincerity feels rebellious. He is not chasing a trend. He is documenting a life. “One Day at a Time” is designed for anyone who needs a reason to stay, to breathe, and to try again. It is a song for heavy nights and fragile mornings, and it might be one you reach for when the world feels too sharp to hold.

"One Day at a Time" feels deeply personal. What specific moment or realization inspired its creation? 

The process for this song was quite fragmented. On my one-year sober anniversary, my Mother-in-law gave me a coin that says "One Day At A Time". Earlier this year, when I released my song "Somebody Else's Soul", I took a picture of the coin for the album art, but realized it wasn't the art for that song. I needed to write a song called "One Day At A Time"...although it still ended up not being the album art for this song either, just great inspiration. Often, after my small group at the time, I would stay late at the church and work on music, whether rehearsing, recording, or writing.

One night, I was working with a verse I wrote in May 2023, "I've been on the wrong side of Heaven...", and as I continued to work with it, I found myself at the chorus. So I paraphrased a line from the Serenity Prayer that says, "Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it", and summarized it to say, "I won't take this world my way". Then I shot a video for it with Windecker Road Films, which led me to realize I needed to take this to my producer, Iain McNally, and make a full single of it. 

How has your faith shaped your journey through sobriety and recovery? 

In a way, my sobriety is one of the things my faith is built on. I tried many times in my 20s to quit or at least be more responsible about drinking. I stopped doing drugs when I started dating my wife in 2013, but drinking was my giant. I ended up with stomach and indigestion problems from the harder drinks I'd choose, and by the autumn of 2020, I was just getting bloated instead of even a buzz.

Then, when I'd go to sleep, I'd get reflux and feel a weird body buzz in the morning. In September 2020, we started attending our church online. November 1st, 2020, was going to be our first time. I woke up from my worst night yet after only two tall cans throughout the evening before. I chose to bail on attending in person, and that was the day I gave it up. If the choice was between alcohol and God, it was an easy choice.

When I look back, it was as if God called me to serve, but He needed me to be sober-minded. So, He healed me of that affliction, almost as a sign or wonder, which made so many people in the Bible believe 2,000 years ago. It's quite a blessing that it just lifted one day, so I can share my testimony and attempt to lead others with a clear mind. 

You describe life as a "grand mosaic." How does that idea influence your approach to writing music? 

I think my music actually proves my grand mosaic philosophy rather than the other way around, at least for my life. Some people have photo albums and home videos of different periods in their lives. Whether that's physical or on cloud storage, I have those too, but I also have songs that I've written about those moments and chapters.

From being young and heartbroken to social struggles and various breakups, moving out of our first apartment, living like a wannabe country outlaw, welcoming and saying goodbye to our daughter, and then continuing to a faithful life and an even stronger relationship. I think the songs are another element that adds detail to mine. Some of my chapters are well-written, and others make me thankful I never published them. Regardless of how I feel, though, they still capture my growth as a person and songwriter, the various styles and skill levels I've explored, and the light and dark phases I've experienced.

This is just the stuff we see as the main character in our story. Who knows what would be included if there were an actual, literal mosaic being made of moments in our lives. I imagine Buzz Music would have a really high-res image in the end after all the lives of musicians and their releases you've been a part of. 

What was it like working with Iain McNally and Randy Cooke on this record? 

Iain McNally is a great friend and mentor to have by my side. He produced my album "The Moonshine," which taught me a great amount about the recording process and also helped me finally grasp a proper singing technique. He's a great person for me to bring questions to, no matter how basic they may be, but we also have a great relationship as friends, which has given us lots of laughs during this project.

I didn't really get to meet with Randy Cooke other than through email. He recorded the drums at a venue where he was playing in Kempten, Germany, but he was a professional and very easy to email back and forth with. As a millennial, I'm pretty excited to have the drummer of Smash Mouth on my track. I'm glad I'm much older doing this, so I was able to prevent being a fanboy or anything. 

What message do you hope listeners take away from this song, especially those walking their own path toward healing? 

I hope people find reassurance, perseverance, but most importantly, an opportunity for faith, from my testimony. I didn't really work to get sober; God changed my heart. Although I could have kept drinking and suffering through it, my heart was cleansed to make me feel it wasn't worth it, and I think that can be a great testimony of the miraculous, supernatural things that God can do. You hear of people being cured overnight of illness; I was cured overnight of alcoholism. 

(I've been through some terrible things and things that I saw as terrible evil, yet it was something that was simply interrupting my peace and good times. It all depended on my perspective, and I'm a better person now through it all. In a way, the terrible things I've gone through in the past have given me peace later in life because I can say, "I've been through worse". I've even come to embrace hard times because, through my faith, I find strength, gratitude, comfort, and a constructive perspective. This allows me to look back on darker times and write a song that can hopefully help others realize that tomorrow can bring a sudden change for the better. While some changes take more work than others, some can be as simple as removing that element from your life and adding a healthier one, all because you've accepted the change of heart God is offering you. You never know where that one healthier choice can lead.)