Will we see Colton Dixon’s kids on stage anytime soon? If it’s up to his twin 3-year-old girls, the answer is yes! The American Idol alum shared how his daughters are not afraid to share the spotlight!
We talked with Dixon about life on tour, how his County Rescue acting experience is some ways mirrored his real life, and the importance of faith in a performance-based world.
Interviewed for Family Entourage
FE: It’s so god to talk to you. I have to tell you, I was taking my kids to school this morning and Build a Boat came on… so you are part of the fabric of our daily routine.
Colton Dixon: Come on. Honored. That is so awesome. I love that.
FE: Yeah, they were super excited. I was like, Mom’s talking to Colton in a little bit here, and they were through the roof.
CD: That’s amazing. How old are you kiddos?
FE: My son is nine and my daughter’s five. Perfect, sing out loud dancing age.
CD: Oh yeah. My girls are three and they’ll stand up on our little poof and sing away. It’s the cutest thing.
FE: I love it! And they probably actually have some of Dad’s talent in them so yours probably sound a little bit better than my household.
CD: That’s hilarious.
FE: Well, you’re keeping so busy these days. In fact, you just kicked off your Love and Light Tour. So what city are you talking to me from today?
CD: I actually had a couple off days, so my wife and kiddos are visiting her parents, so I’m here in Tulsa, Oklahoma, getting to spend some family time before hitting the next string of shows, but we’ve got one weekend under our belt, having the best time on the road with Jordan Felice and can’t wait for more shows.
FE: Now, you mentioned your girls, and they are still pretty young, so does the family try to come with you on tour, or do you just make a point to touch back home throughout the tour? What does that look like these days?
CD: I feel like they’re just getting to an age and a spot where it would be more manageable on the road. It’s more so like I’m touching base whenever I can, and so thankful for technology, but if we’re close, they’ll make the trip and they’ll come out and hang with Dadda at work. But it’s a fun time anytime that they’re there and they’re so funny, they’re not afraid at all. You might hear ’em in the background. They’re not afraid at all. They’re like, I want to go on stage too. I’m like, okay, alright, let’s figure out how this is going to work logistically and make it happen. But it’s a good old time.
FE: I know that you’ve performed a bunch of times on TV from American Idol, to all the morning national talk shows, but to be in County Rescue, you were playing yourself, but also there was some acting involved there. So talk to me about this new experience.
CD: Yeah, man. Well, acting was not on my radar at all. I’ve been pretty busy, all things music and family related, as I’m sure you can imagine. But what a cool opportunity. So thankful that County Rescue reached out and asked if we’d be interested and thought we would take a stab and try this new thing. And like you said, I’m playing myself – shouldn’t be that hard – but there was definitely an acting element. For those who haven’t seen the episode, I won’t give it away, but let’s just say we’re out on the road about to do a show and I get a little choked up, so I’ll let you fill in the blank. It was kind of wild. It felt like a lot of pressure. The cast and crew was really great. But yeah, I’ll let you be the judge if I should continue pursuing an acting career or not.
FE: Absolutely. I think the more of you we can see the better. And that’s when the suspense built in the show. So you did a good job. You changed my feelings as I was watching. I was like, ut-oh, now it’s getting real.
CD: Well, praise the Lord. Alright, I’ll see what else is out there. We’ll reconvene at a later date.
FE: Exactly. Yeah. When you’re doing your starring role, I better be on the carpet. Don’t forget about me.
CD: That’s right. I won’t. I will not.
FE: Well, talk to me about the way that you can connect with your fans. I know that you are able to do that through a variety of different outlets and then through this show is another way. Talk to me about what it means to be able to kind of meet them where they’re at.
CD: Yeah, man, I love people. People are why I do what I do. I want to instill hope and joy and love into them, and I love that shows like County Rescue are on the exact same mission. It’s just in a different lane. So anytime that there’s crossover there, I think that’s so cool. So honored to get to do that. I’m so thankful for my fans and even just you saying that you and your kiddos were listening to Build a Boat on your way to school this morning. Bless my heart. So I love that so much. I love that God uses something like a song to reach people. I know that’s true. Even in my own life growing up, listening to Christian radio, so amazed at how a song would meet me exactly where I was. And I think it’s just the coolest thing that I get to be a part of that for someone else now. And any opportunity that I have to pour into someone, especially with someone else, I’m going to jump at that opportunity.
FE: Yeah, I love that. And that’s one of the things that I think that the show does well too in the fact that it’s and a vehicle for other believers to be able to see parts of their life reflected on screen. A moment to pause like you prayed with your band members before you went on stage. Is that something that is actually what you do, or was that organic?
CD: Good question. I’m so glad that my answer is yes. Yeah, we try to be very intentional about that. We will miss one every here and again, but it’s super important to us. It can very easily in our line of work become about us, but just having that moment to check in with God and just really just ask him like, Hey, is there anything that we need to be aware of? Is there anything we need to get in tune with? We’re in a different city every night and we know that He’s doing different things in Nashville than He is in Texas or whatever. So we want to be aware of that, and we want to align ourselves with what he’s already doing. So prayer is huge for us.
FE: You’re in a performance-based occupation. I’m in a performance-based occupation, but now with social media, everybody is in a performance-based world. Right? It’s difficult, and I feel like unless you can really root yourself in your faith, and even then those lines are slippery and they blur so fast. Talk to me about what you’ve found that you’ve been able to take comfort in and maybe something that others can glean from.
CD: Yeah, I’ll say this on social media, even as wild as it has gotten on TikTok, you see girls talking to you while they’re curling their lashes or something. It’s like, what’s going on? But you, you’re still seeing everyone’s best on social media. Don’t let that discourage you. Even for me, in a career mindset, I’ve had to shift from social media being a consumer thing to, okay, this is a platform that I have an opportunity to reach people through. So the moment it becomes about consuming whatever, you start to compare, and I think it was Teddy Roosevelt who said, comparison is the number one thief of joy. So the moment you start comparing where you are to someone else, it doesn’t lead to a good place. Just let me tell you from personal experience. Even in my own line of work, even today, I’ll see friends of mine who do music or who do acting, whatever, and I’m like, man, they got that new cyber truck. Like, golly, they must be doing really well. Or Oh man, they perform to that many people. That’s crazy. But God’s got you right where he wants. You just tune into what He has. Don’t miss out on the opportunity just because you’re too busy looking on the other side of the fence. So that’s what I would say is be in the here and now. Don’t compare yourself to where anyone else is and do what you know you’re called to do.
Watch Colton’s guest appearance on County Rescue on Great American Family and stream it at County Rescue. To find out more about his tour and new music at https://www.coltondixon.com/
