CALIFORNIA, USA — A timeless take on love songs and heartbreak paints the picture of a musician well beyond 21 years old, and yet Stephen Sanchez's easy-going attitude toward fame and humble approach to his success rings true to the adage about age being just a number.
"I don't think I'm famous or anything like that, so I think that's a great place to operate out of because then you write songs that you care about and aren't trying to please anybody," Sanchez said.
With slicked-back hair, wingtips and dance moves that make crowds swoon, Sanchez has taken the world by storm and he isn't done yet.
It all started in a California town east of Sacramento, El Dorado Hills. He grew up there and still thinks fondly of running around and seeing fireworks at the El Dorado Hills Town Center.
He also has childhood memories of going to Joe's Crab Shack — he would get a kids' version of a shark bite drink — and Candy Heaven in Old Sacramento. If you were living in Sacramento then, you might have seen a younger Sanchez busking.
"That was like my thing — how I first started singing and playing was on the street, which was great," Sanchez said.
Sanchez says moving to Nashville when he was still in high school was an immediate switch up and transition into music, touring and adulthood.
Now, on his 2024 tour for his album Angel Face (Club Deluxe), Sanchez continues the theatrics from a tragic love story he tells through his music. The album chronicles a love triangle between Evangeline, a mobster Hunter and Troubador Sanchez, Stephen's 1960s persona. However, the starry-eyed romance between Evangeline and The Troubador ends suddenly when Hunter, consumed by jealousy, shoots and kills The Troubador during his opening night at a club called The Angel.
With lyrics on the album such as "I'm pullin' down the moon for us" and "I'd die to live for any little part of this," Sanchez says it's easy for him to access his emotional side.
"I'm kind of always in that vulnerable headspace because I am such a hopeless romantic. And I love, love, and creating moments... I've just always kind of been like that, just as far as, being very in tune with my emotions, and knowing how I feel — and knowing what I want, I think has been very helpful in assisting the songwriting," Sanchez said.
His breakout single "Until I Found You," — which he has described as his "little 1950s-inspired love song" — launched Sanchez into the Top 25 of the Billboard Hot 100 and has more than two billion streams across various versions of the song, which includes a duet with Em Beihold.
During this tour, Sanchez continues the lore of the album as a fictional guest starring on a fictional TV show, the Connie Co Show, performing in front of a live studio audience for each stop on the tour.
"Anybody coming to our show, there's a song for your girlfriend or your grandma, so it's perfect for everyone," Sanchez said.
Sanchez has several stops in California including one at Hard Rock Live in Wheatland on September 7. Find tickets HERE.
"It's the last time we're doing this 50s, 60s thing, so you might as well catch it before it's gone," Sanchez said.
There will be some familiar faces in the audience for his hometown-adjacent show including his siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles.
"Every time there's a show and they get to see it kind of get bigger and bigger and see the crowds get bigger and bigger. It just feels kind of like, 'Oh, cool it worked out,' because I think universally all families are supportive, but there's also like. 'Are you sure you want to be a musician full time and try and figure that out?' Because I think most of the time I don't know that it works out, so I'm very fortunate and grateful that it has worked out," Sanchez said.
On this tour, Sanchez is singing multiple songs from the deluxe version of Angel Face including "Emotional Vacation."
He said the song was created on a day when everyone was exhausted and suffering from writer's block. After getting tacos, they returned to the studio, set Sanchez up with a microphone and an amp, and let him improvise.
"All the lyrics and the whole song and the chorus was written from like an ad-lib moment where I was just playing through random things, saying random things, coming up with random things and random melodies. And then we all kind of cut it together. And we're like, 'Oh, this kind of sounds good,'" Sanchez said.
While Sanchez says on Angel Face he wrote a lot of the songs based on the themes of the characters' stories, songs like "Emotional Vacation," which were formed from a spontaneous moment, carry less pressure in some ways.
In terms of handling the pressure, he says he stays grounded by keeping in touch with his roots. Faith has been a cornerstone in his life and it's become an even bigger part in recent years. Sanchez said he grew up in the church and while at the time he "hated that vibe," he realized he needed it for himself.
"When I started really getting into it and like making a lot of mistakes and kind of just getting lost in it — I think it's been very grounding just knowing that I don't have to be anything other than just who I am," Sanchez said. "And that's so nice. So that's a really important part of my life and it's kept me very much on a good path and kept me in a good space emotionally, which has been really great for me."
Looking to the future, Sanchez says he's been writing some new songs exploring different stories with new characters.
"I have no idea really what I want to make just yet, which is so exciting. Love that. So it's been a slow burn, but it's going great. It's great. I'm in no rush," Sanchez said.
As far as keeping with a similar sound he used to tell The Troubadour and Evangeline's story, Sanchez said it's a special record and he wants to keep it that way.
"I think if I really switch it up, I think that's what's going to make this time and that moment like, 'Oh, do you remember when we'd go see Stephen Sanchez? And we all dressed up in 50s and 60s sock hop, Rockabilly outfits and he slicked his hair back, and now he's just not doing that at all anymore, and we miss that.' I think that's, yeah, I think that's like a very special thing," Sanchez said.
