Country Next: Kaleb Sanders

Kaleb Sanders has been chasing music for most of his life, but it wasn’t until he made the move to Nashville that his career truly began to take shape. Now, as a new signee of Red Street Records with over 10 million career streams to his name, the rising country star is finally leaning into the path he was always destined for.

Growing up in Florida with generations of musical tradition steeped in his family roots, Sanders found himself surrounded by music lovers.  However, he didn’t immediately see himself on stage. It took some time and a move to Nashville, but he eventually found his voice and developed a sound which he calls “genre agnostic” as it blends the heart of country with influences from many different genres.

Sanders is currently making waves in the Music City scene with a growing collection of songs that showcase his versatility, including “Marlboro Man,” “If They Sold It At A Bar,” his latest single, “Heartbreak Carousel” and more. On top of that, he’s earning a reputation for delivering energetic live performances that prove he is a rising artist with a long career ahead.

In this installment of Country Next, Kaleb Sanders shares what inspired his path to music, the creative process behind his latest releases, and what fans can look forward to as he hits the road this fall with Jay Webb.

What was it like being raised in a family with such deep musical roots?

It’s a long bloodline of musicians and passionate music lovers on both sides of my family…Right now, this very day, my grandmother is 93 years old and she’s probably at a nursing home singing songs to the patients there. She’s doing gigs still. But yeah, all of my aunts, all of my uncles on both sides are singers and everyone’s just lovers of music. It just goes back generations and generations.

Did that same passion for music develop right away for you?

Actually, no, I resisted it for a very long time. My parents split up when I was about two or three, and I was really conflicted with who I was and what I wanted to do, and everything was kind of everywhere. I was like, I’m going to do the sensible thing in life. I’m going to do sports and I’m going to get a scholarship and go to college and get a good job and just do that. Because I watched my dad as a touring musician, I was like, I just don’t want to live that lifestyle. I feel like I was scared I wouldn’t succeed in it, and I was also really, really, really, really, really shy about singing in front of people. So that didn’t help. But when I was 18, I had just graduated high school and I was in my freshman year of college. My grandfather on my dad’s side passed away and it hit me a freight train, and I knew all at once that music was exactly what I needed to do with my life. And so without even knowing a single chord on the guitar or having sang in front of anybody right then and there at his funeral, dedicated my life to music and I went back to my college town, grabbed all my stuff, moved to my hometown, started working on a farm. Every day after I would come home from work, I would YouTube how to play guitar, and I started learning. It took me a couple of years and I started getting up in front of people and playing. So I didn’t start getting up in front of people until I was about 20, 21.

Do you feel like performing has helped you come out of your shell and gain some more confidence?

Definitely over time. My first performance ever was an open mic, and I was only intended to sing one song, and my friend Tristan Tritt challenged me to do it. He’s Travis Tritt’s son. Me and him were kind of in the same boat as far as our fear of performing in front of people, and we were like, ‘alright, if you don’t do it by this date, blah, blah, blah, here are the consequences.’ And he was like, ‘alright, you got to do it by this date.’ And I was like, ‘alright, you got to do it by this date.’ And so we made a pact and I signed up for this open mic, and I didn’t know what to expect. It’s like, is there going to be 10 people in here or what’s the deal? I got there with my guitar and there was 400 people in the audience. It was a very grandiose stage in a really, really, it was beautiful, but for three nights, I could not eat or sleep before that performance. And that proved to me how much I really do care about this.

How were you feeling when you finally got up on stage that night?

So I got up there and all of a sudden I felt this peace wash over me, even though I was shaking and I sang, “Hallelujah.” That was the first song I ever learned was “Hallelujah.” And the reaction from the crowd right after I sang the first line of the song, they just erupted sort of, and I was like, oh, they’re being nice. And then I sang the song, I just poured my heart out and I sang the song and I got off a stage and there was loud applause and people were crying and I was just like, oh, okay. Maybe they weren’t being just nice.

At what point did you decide you were ready to fully lean into this path and move to Nashville?

I wanted to three years before I actually did, or more so from that moment, I definitely already had my heart set on Nashville. It was on my mind every day, but I knew I needed some more time to get in front of people and sharpen my skills. And so I started doing real gigs and going to different bars where people weren’t paying attention. It was like nobody cared kind of thing. Nobody was really listening. It was just all those kinds of settings, and I was just kind of still shy getting up there and doing my thing. But after a couple years of that, I started getting more comfortable and I was like, you know what? I need to be up in Nashville. And finally everything came to a head in my life that just pushed me towards the decision to up and move.

What was the final motivating factor that pushed you to move to Music City?

It was three things at once. In 2019, my girlfriend of two years, her and I ended up breaking up and this was all in almost the same day. We ended up breaking up. I ended up going, ‘you know what? I’m going to quit my job in construction. I really have to follow my heart, and I’m feeling it. I’m being pulled towards it.’ And as soon as those two things happened, I got home and the house I was renting, I got home and I put my things down I was like, alright, what do I do now? And my landlord called me and was like, ‘Hey, we’re going to tear your house down in two weeks, so get ready for that.’ He’s like, ‘yeah, we’re doing construction. Sorry, it’s so abrupt.’ And I was like, ‘okay, sounds I’m packing up and moving to Nashville now.’

You currently describe your sound as being “genre agnostic.” How did you come up with that description?

Yeah, that is correct. To me, genre agnostic means that whatever comes out, comes out. I don’t like to box myself into any sort of sound or genre because I have influences from across the board, heavy influences from across the board. And even though I do have a lot of heavy influence from country music, Jason Aldean, being my biggest influence, I have influences from pop, hip hop, rock. I’m a huge lover of John Mayer. I love Maroon 5, Incubus, Three Doors Down, Nickelback, The Allman Brothers. And as far as hip hop and rap go, I’ve always loved Drake and Lil Wayne, and it was my mix tapes were always, when I got on the aux, my playlist was, it would be like Lil Wayne one song, and then Jason Aldean the next…so all over the place.

And just to kind of add that statement, I see that happening a lot with my fellow artists here in Nashville, and I think a lot of them feel like they have to say that, I don’t want to say that they have whatever they have going on, but a lot of them are like, ‘Hey, I’m a country artist.’ And I feel compelled to say that sometimes too, but I’m like, you know what? Traditional country lovers and traditional country artists, which I look up to, they don’t really like it when a guy like me walks in with my pop country sound, which I call Southern pop, and I call myself a country singer. They’re not too keen on that. And I’m like, you know what? I want to respect that because I don’t think I’m all country. I’m a lot of other things.

If someone is hearing your music for the first time, which song would you have them start with to get to know you as an artist?

I would recommend two different songs. I would recommend “Marlboro Man” so that they could hear my fun side, my more upbeat side. I think it’s a pretty good, that is a tough one to really draw out. That’s a really good song to get an idea of what my vibe is. And on the more serious side, “Man Of The House” if you want to really understand me as an artist as far as my vulnerability and emotionally where I do some things I like to touch on. “Man Of The House” is a very moving song and a true story about my mother having to do lot of the raising of me and my brother on her own for a while when we were really young. And that resonates with a lot of people.

You just signed your first record deal, how did it feel to surpass that milestone?

Oh, wow. I mean, it was huge. It was pivotal. It was so much excitement and then tears of joy. My whole family, for generations and generations, they’ve been just blood, sweat and tears poured into music. My whole family just got just lit up. They were like, ‘you’ve made it farther than any of us. Go, go, go.’ And it was a huge, huge, huge moment. And it was something that I always dreamed of, but I never knew if it would actually happen. I had an inkling, I was like, I don’t know. I’m just going to enjoy the ride and keep doing it. And I think that’s what ultimately got me and my crew where we are. We just kept working hard and enjoying where we’re at, and we continued to do that. It was so so pivotal and it’s made this year for me, 2025 has been a huge year of growth and a lot of learning. I’ve been able to learn so much from Jay DeMarcus and just so honored to be able to work with him so closely at Red Street Records And just, it’s been amazing.

Looking back on the moment you found out about this news, what was you first reaction?

It was the most exciting phone call I think I ever received. And it was actually after I released the song “Marlboro Man,” and that’s why I like to point people towards that when they’re like, ‘Hey, which song should I listen to?’ “Marlboro Man” because after I released that, I started getting calls from people I never thought I’d get calls from about, ‘Hey, why don’t you come in and meet with us?’ I’m like, ‘what?’ They’re like, ‘we like this song. We want to know what you got next. We want to talk to you. We’re kind of excited about you as an artist.’ And I’m like, ‘what? Okay, on my way.’

Talk about the story behind your latest release, “Heartbreak Carousel.”

So I did not have a hand in writing this one, actually. An artist and a songwriter, I look up to a lot, wrote this one with a few other people…It was pitched to me by the label, and immediately when I heard it, I had goosebumps and I was with my manager in the truck and we were just like, we turned it up and we got goosebumps immediately when we heard Ryan Hurd’s voice and the energy of the song. And I just related to it so much, the toxic relationship stuff, I hate to say it, but I really do relate to it really, really, really been there. That, and “Heartbreak Carousel” is sort of, I don’t want to go into too much detail, but I think it’s something that a lot of people can relate to, especially when you’re younger and you’re still trying to figure out how to be in a relationship and what you want out of a relationship and who you think you are and who you think you want as a partner. So it hit me hard, and I was just so fired up about that song and the fact that I got the opportunity that it was pitched to me. I was like, how come Ryan’s not cutting this?

You just finished supporting Erin Kinsey and are about to join Jay Webb on tour. How has this year on the road been for you?

I’m heavily touring and I just really, I’m going all over the country and I want anybody who doesn’t know to know. I just did a countrywide tour with Erin Kinsey and it was such a fantastic time and I just want to thank her and thank God that I was able to join that tour. It was very, very wonderful and a lot of growth happened, and I just got on a tour with Jay Webb for the fall, and we’re starting in just a couple of weeks. We’re starting in October right after my release for “Heartbreak Carousel,” and we’re going to be going everywhere. It’s on my social media. It’s pinned on my profile, our tour schedule.

What are your shows going to look like this fall?

They’re going to be changing up a bit. I’m excited. I don’t know if this is really something to tell the world, like whatever, just put on a show, but I got all new equipment and all my stuff’s wireless now, so I can run around stage and just be my energetic self. I get excited for these shows, so I like to bring the energy. So I’m excited to open for Jay Webb, and I know he’s got a lot of energy too, so I’m really stoked about being able to put the guitar down and just run around the stage and just have fun with the crowd.