Adam Sanders (born May 25, 1988) is an American singer and songwriter. Sanders has released several singles, an EP, and two full-length albums as an independent artist. He has over 100 million total streams and charted at No. 33 on Billboard's Country Albums chart with his self-titled, debut EP. Sanders is a co-writer of the number one hits:
Ain't Worth the Whiskey
"Ain't Worth the Whiskey" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Cole Swindell. It was released to country radio in November 2014 as the third single from his self-titled debut album. The song was written by Swindell, J ...
(for
Cole Swindell
Colden Rainey Swindell (born June 30, 1983) is an American rock music singer and songwriter. He has written singles for Craig Campbell, Thomas Rhett, Scotty McCreery, and Luke Bryan, and has released four albums for Warner Bros. Records Nashvi ...
) and
Hell of a Night (for
Dustin Lynch
Dustin Charles Lynch (born May 14, 1985) is an American country music singer and songwriter, signed to Broken Bow Records. Lynch has released four albums and one EP for the label: a Dustin Lynch (album), self-titled album in 2012, ''Where It's At ...
).
Early life
Adam Sanders grew up in
Lake City, Florida
Lake City is a city in northern Florida. It is the county seat of Columbia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 12,329. It is the principal city of the Lake City Micropolitan Statistical Area, which i ...
, where he was raised on hunting and fishing. He began singing when he was three years old. His uncle, steel guitar and dobro player Scotty Sanders, encouraged him to write songs. His father taught him three guitar chords at age ten and helped him write his first song at age twelve. He continued to write songs and play in local fairs, talent shows, and town festivals throughout his high school years.
In 2009, at age twenty-one, he moved to Nashville. At first, he worked construction with his father. In 2011, he signed a publishing deal with Big Yellow Dog Music. Within six months,
Luke Bryan
Thomas Luther "Luke" Bryan (born July 17, 1976) is an American country singer, songwriter, and television personality. He began his music career writing songs for Travis Tritt and Billy Currington before signing with Capitol Nashville in 2007 ...
cut Sanders's song, "Out Like That". Sanders's friend and one of the first people that he met when moved to Nashville, Cole Swindell, played the song for Bryan. He liked it and chose it for his 2013 album, ''Crash My Party''.
Swindell later recorded "Ain't Worth the Whiskey", a song that Swindell, Sanders, and Josh Martin wrote. The songwriters joked that the song belonged to the first from the group to get a record deal.
"Ain't Worth the Whiskey" became Sanders's first number one as a songwriter and Swindell's third consecutive number one as an artist.
By 2015, Dustin Lynch had also made a number one hit of a Sanders co-write, "Hell of a Night".
Music career
Sanders began his artist journey by testing the market with singles.
His first single, "Nothin’ To Do But Drink", premiered on
SiriusXM's The Highway in June 2014.
"Somewhere That You Don’t Go", followed on the channel and saw success by being named a "Highway Find".
The video for his third single, "Thunder" drew attention from
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...
, who called it "emotionally-charged, ominous" and "intense". Sanders toured extensively in 2015 with
Cole Swindell
Colden Rainey Swindell (born June 30, 1983) is an American rock music singer and songwriter. He has written singles for Craig Campbell, Thomas Rhett, Scotty McCreery, and Luke Bryan, and has released four albums for Warner Bros. Records Nashvi ...
.
Sanders continued to release singles in 2016. The video for "About To" drew from horror film inspiration and spent time in rotation on
CMT.
The song and video received critical acclaim from CMT,
Taste of Country
Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...
, and
The Boot.
The single "I've Been Meaning To Call" was inspired by his relationship with his mom.
He toured with
Cam
Calmodulin (CaM) (an abbreviation for calcium-modulated protein) is a multifunctional intermediate calcium-binding messenger protein expressed in all eukaryotic cells. It is an intracellular target of the secondary messenger Ca2+, and the bin ...
on her Burning House Tour.
Sanders released two singles, "Thankful For" and "Over Did It", ahead of his May 2018 self-titled debut EP.
The EP charted at No. 33 on
''Billboard''’s Country Albums.
The video for "Over Did It" rotated on CMT music.
In February 2020, Sanders released a feel good song, called "Ruled The World", which
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
called an "infectious tune". The song was a collaboration on multiple levels. It was written by Sanders, Hunter Phelps, and Chris LaCorte. Singer-songwriters Hunter Phelps, Ray Fulcher, Cash Campbell, Faren Rachels, Josh Mirenda, Mitch Rossell, and Drew Parker join Sanders in providing vocals for the song.
Tracy Lawrence
Tracy Lee Lawrence (born January 27, 1968) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born in Atlanta, Texas, and raised in Foreman, Arkansas, Lawrence began performing at age 15 and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in ...
,
Aaron Tippin
Aaron Dupree Tippin (born July 3, 1958) is an American country music singer, songwriter and record producer. Initially a songwriter for Acuff-Rose Music, he gained a recording contract with RCA Nashville in 1990. His debut single, "You've Got to ...
, and
Shenandoah’s
Marty Raybon
Marty Raybon (born December 8, 1959) is an American country music artist. He is known primarily for his role as the lead singer of the country band Shenandoah, a role which he held from 1985 to 1997, until he rejoined the band in 2014. He reco ...
and Mike McGuire joined for the video.
Sanders showcases his talents at singing the songs that he wrote in his January 2021 album, ''Adam Sanders (Live)''. The album includes Sanders's version of the number one hits that he wrote:
Cole Swindell
Colden Rainey Swindell (born June 30, 1983) is an American rock music singer and songwriter. He has written singles for Craig Campbell, Thomas Rhett, Scotty McCreery, and Luke Bryan, and has released four albums for Warner Bros. Records Nashvi ...
's,
Ain't Worth the Whiskey
"Ain't Worth the Whiskey" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Cole Swindell. It was released to country radio in November 2014 as the third single from his self-titled debut album. The song was written by Swindell, J ...
and
Dustin Lynch
Dustin Charles Lynch (born May 14, 1985) is an American country music singer and songwriter, signed to Broken Bow Records. Lynch has released four albums and one EP for the label: a Dustin Lynch (album), self-titled album in 2012, ''Where It's At ...
's,
Hell of a Night. The album is Sanders's way of bringing live music to his fans that couldn't experience live shows during the pandemic.
In May 2021, Sanders released ''What If I’m Right'', his first full-length studio album. ''What If I'm Right'' features the single, "Daddy, Jesus and Earnhardt". The song is a tribute to
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and h ...
legend,
Dale Earnhardt
Ralph Dale Earnhardt Sr. (; April 29, 1951February 18, 2001) was an American professional stock car driver and team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2001 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series), most notably dri ...
. Sanders told
People Magazine
''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People'' had the l ...
that he and his father were watching as Earnhardt crashed and that "losing him had a major impact for me". People wrote that the song "could go and make Sanders a country music superstar".
The title track "What If I'm Right", caught
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...
's attention, as they wrote that it's "a meaty production of big drums and bigger guitars, with an emphasis on how it’ll play on radio and for the seats at the back of the arena, delivered in a confident tenor".
Music videos
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Adam
1988 births
Living people
American country singer-songwriters
People from Lake City, Florida
Country musicians from Florida
Singer-songwriters from Florida