Live Music: Colton Sanders

Colton Sanders is a songwriter and performer from the backwoods of Northeast Texas, raised in the Red River Valley of Lamar County. His musical roots run deep—formed in the backseat of his father’s pickup, where classic country CDs by Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard played on repeat. It was there, belting out songs by David Allan Coe and even AC/DC, that his lifelong connection to music first took hold. At 14, Sanders picked up his first guitar and began writing songs of his own, drawing from the rusted landscapes and raw emotions of rural life. But it wasn’t until nearly 16 years later that he began sharing those songs onstage, forming his first gigging band just as the world shut down in 2020. That band, IZZY DED & The Existential Dread, spent the next few years cutting their teeth on stages across Texas. In 2022 and 2023, they recorded their debut album What Hurts Mostat Denim Diablo Studios in Dallas with producer Ryan Michael (The Roomsounds, Kirk Holloway) . The record was released on October 13, 2023. Now, with nearly 300 shows behind him and a growing catalog of songs, Colton Sanders is stepping into the spotlight under his own name. With a sound steeped in country grit, Southern storytelling, and lived-in truth, he’s setting out to play every backroad bar, honky-tonk, and listening room that’ll have him.