Lisa Sanders

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Lisa Sanders began singing on street corners at an early age alongside her older brother, Ty. When her mother remarried, the family relocated to Argentia, Newfoundland, Canada — and with it came four more siblings. Music filled the household daily: Motown, Johnny Cash, Hee Haw, Southern and European Rock, Classical, Pop, and Gospel all found their way into Lisa's ear. It was there, surrounded by that eclectic soundtrack, that she wrote her first song.

Lisa later moved to Southern California, where she came into her own as an artist and has anchored the region's folk scene for three decades. In 1993, she signed with Cargo Earth Records and released Isn't Life Fine, produced by Josquin des Pres, to critical acclaim and industry recognition. The album was rereleased on MCA Records and led to a publishing deal with Windswept Pacific. Cargo followed with Life Takes You Flying in 1999.

In 2004, Lisa released Hold On Tightly on her own label, Maya Jade Records, produced by the Truckee Brothers. That same period, a chance meeting with Lucinda Williams led to a stint singing and opening for her — and Williams's encouragement to dig into the Blues sparked something deeper. As Lisa describes it: "As a Black woman, I had a musical, spiritual awakening. It transformed the way I viewed myself and my music forever."
That awakening became Last Night in Roseburg, an album featuring Susan Gibson ("Wide Open Spaces"), Steve Poltz (Jewel, Bob Schneider), Maia Sharp (Bonnie Raitt, Dixie Chicks), and guitarist Doug Pettibone (Lucinda Williams, Marianne Faithfull, John Mayer). Lisa followed with a solo acoustic record, Raw: The Sven Recordings, in 2008, and a limited release, The Blues Compilation, in 2012.

Over the course of her career, Lisa has shared stages with B.B. King, Lucinda Williams, Bonnie Raitt, Iris DeMent, Gillian Welch, Al Green, Babyface, Dave Koz, Joe Ely, Loudon Wainwright III, and Joe Cocker, and performed at multiple Lilith Fair dates. She is a member of the San Diego Music Hall of Fame and an alum of the Black Opry Review.

In Aug, 2026, Lisa will release her eighth studio album, Daughters of the Rising Tide — her most vulnerable and sonically adventurous work to date. For the first time in her career, she handed over production duties, tapping JT Nero of Birds of Chicago to co-write and produce the record at Nashville's Hen House Studio. The sessions brought together an all-star cast, including Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Allison Russell, guitarist Sadler Vaden (Jason Isbell's 400 Unit), and roots multi-instrumentalist Steve Dawson.

Named for the patient, unstoppable power of the tide, the album trades dusty highway imagery for the rugged beauty of the California coastline. It opens with the slide-guitar-laced "Late Rose" and closes with the defiant "Unicorn," framing a portrait of an artist not resting on her laurels, but still evolving. Of the title track, Sanders says the record poses one central question — whether she's willing to keep shedding her skin and growing.

Lisa will support the release with tour dates throughout 2026, performing both as a soloist and alongside her longtime musical partner, Karen "Brown Sugar" Hayes.


After years of writing and singing songs from her heart and soul that only a person who has truly experienced life on life’s terms it is said that Lisa Sanders is one of the best kept secrets in music. And everyone is saying “Not For Long”