Chris Sanders

Chris Sanders, a Minnesota transplant who now lives in Las Cruces, NM, grew up in a musical home and inherited her grandmother’s talent for playing by ear and her mother’s life long passion for music. She toured with the Concordia Choir and worked with various bands in Colorado and the San Francisco Bay Area, taking a detour along the road to get a masters degree in vocal performance and raise a family. While teaching voice at New Mexico State University, she directed and arranged for the vocal group Cider Jazz. However, it was Steve Smith who gave her the opportunity to get back on the road and develop as a songwriter. Since 2004 their modern/retro string band “Hard Road” has appeared at concerts and festivals throughout the country. Chris also performs in a jazz duo with guitarist Bob Hull. In the fall of 2008 she became a voice teacher in the Commercial Music program at the University of Texas at El Paso where she directs the UTEP Jazz Singers. In her long and diverse career she has performed in recital as singer and pianist and co-founded “Actors’ Training Project”, a dramatic arts program in the San Francisco Bay Area. In February of 2008 the musical “We Are Enron”, which she co-wrote, premiered to packed houses at NMSU. She has taught at Hill Country Acoustic Camp, appearing at the Kerrville Folk Festival in 2009, and will be on the faculty at Camp Bluegrass in 2010. She counts Neil Semer and Dede Wyland as major teaching influences.

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