# Don Sanders
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{{Short description|American singer-songwriter (1943-2018)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{For|the Australian banker|Donald Neil Sanders}}
'''Don Sanders''' (October 1, 1943 – July 21, 2018[{{cite news |author= Dansby, Andrew|title=Houston loses Don Sanders, its musical 'Mayor of Montrose' |url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/entertainment/music/article/Houston-loses-Don-Sanders-its-musical-Mayor-13098078.php |accessdate=July 25, 2018 |work=Houston Chronicle |date=July 23, 2018}}]) was an American singer-songwriter from [Houston](/source/Houston), Texas. Due to his unique blend of storytelling and songwriting he was sometimes called a "folk humorist."[{{Cite news|url=https://blog.chron.com/40yearsafter/2010/09/don-sanders-said-farewell-but-not-goodbye/|title=Don Sanders said farewell but not goodbye|last=Campbell|first=Rick|date=September 14, 2010|work=Houston Chronicle|access-date=April 6, 2018}}] Throughout the years he shared the stage with [Lyle Lovett](/source/Lyle_Lovett), [Nanci Griffith](/source/Nanci_Griffith), [Lightnin' Hopkins](/source/Lightnin'_Hopkins), [Vince Bell](/source/Vince_Bell) and [Janis Joplin](/source/Janis_Joplin).[{{Cite news|url=http://donsanders.net/about.html|title=Don Sanders: Storytelling and Song|work=Don Sanders|access-date=April 6, 2018}}] Sanders was an educator, a musician, a one-time founder of an independent record label, a founding member of KPFT radio, and a writer.
He had the nickname "Mayor of [Montrose](/source/Montrose%2C_Houston)".[
== Early music and career ==
At the start of his career in the mid-1960s, Sanders' style of whimsical, individualistic songs made him a celebrated fixture on the Houston folk music scene.
Sanders began composing music around 1963, when he was a student at the [University of Houston](/source/University_of_Houston). When he graduated in 1965, Sanders decided to pursue music full-time.][{{Cite news|title=Don Sanders: Leprechaun Folkie|date=April 13, 1975|work=The Houston Post}}] Soon, he was working and performing at [Anderson Fair Retail Restaurant](/source/Anderson_Fair_Retail_Restaurant), [Liberty Hall](/source/Liberty_Hall_(Houston%2C_Texas)), [Sand Mountain Coffee House](/source/Sand_Mountain_Coffee_House), The Old Quarter, and a number of other venues around town. It was in these places Sanders began to associate with peers such as Jerry Jeff Walker, [Guy Clark](/source/Guy_Clark), and the legendary [Townes Van Zandt](/source/Townes_Van_Zandt). In the 1970s–1980s, Sanders took to the road, playing music at college campuses across the country.[{{Cite news|url=http://infoweb.newsbank.com.ezproxy.rice.edu/resources/doc/nb/image/v2:14DB39C1C40322B4@EANX-163B9895AAC42C19@2443608-163B467EE20F2185@64-163B467EE20F2185@?p=AMNEWS&hlterms=don%3B%20sanders|title=They teach creativity|last=Reed|first=Pat|date=April 9, 1978|work=The Houston Chronicle|access-date=April 4, 2018}}]
Sanders started his own label, Mean N' Low Records, in 1972 so that he could release his own albums, a self-titled 12", "Extended Play," and "Limited Edition."[{{Cite news|url=http://digitalprojects.rice.edu/houston-folk-music-archive/exhibits/show/don-sanders/biography|title=Don Sanders Biography|last=Guthrie|first=Sharon|year=2017|work=Houston Folk Music Archive|access-date=April 6, 2018}}] Around this time he also assumed the role of "Zany Donny Jo Deejay" on the Houston radio station [KPFT](/source/KPFT), where he put on a weekly radio show that featured 'musical comedy songs', his own music, and songs produced by his peers.[{{Cite news|title=Sanders at A&M|last=Lovett|first=Lyle|date=September 13, 1978|work=The Battalion}}] Through this program Sanders taught at the [Gatesville School for Boys](/source/Gatesville_School_for_Boys) and a Houston area high school, teaching the creative concepts of music and songwriting to schoolkids. This shift in his career was rooted in a desire to make a more stable income, to benefit children as an educator, and to explore a new style of his own music that was "more musical and poetic."[{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-film-song/song-pays-warm-tribute-to-texas-troubadours-idUSTRE62M0BB20100323|title="Song" pays warm tribute to Texas troubadors|last=DeFore|first=John|date=March 22, 2010|work=Reuters|access-date=April 6, 2018}}]
In the 2000s, Don returned to the world of education as a storyteller-performer. He is known for his story and song performances in hundreds of schools, theaters, and festivals throughout the Southwest.