Colter Wall

Swift Current

Colter Wall was born on June 27, 1995 in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, the son of Tami and Brad Wall, the 14th premier of Saskatchewan. He graduated from Swift Current Comprehensive High School in 2013 and studied at the University of Saskatchewan before leaving in 2015 to pursue music. He started guitar at 13 playing AC/DC, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, moved to old blues and then folk, and wrote his first songs at 15 or 16 after hearing Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right". His parents were country fans, and he grew up on Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings, then, as a teenager, went down the rabbit hole of Lead Belly, Robert Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt and Woody Guthrie, he told American Songwriter in 2017.

The seven-song EP Imaginary Appalachia (2015, with the Regina producer Jason Plumb at Studio One, and guests Belle Plaine and The Dead South) was promoted by fans without label support; the wrestler Brock Lesnar named him a favorite on Stone Cold Steve Austin's podcast in late 2015. Shooter Jennings, Lucinda Williams and Margo Price became fans, and mutual friends passed the EP to Dave Cobb, who agreed to produce the debut. The release date is given as March 9 or June 2, 2015 on the same Wikipedia page.

The albums

In 2016 he opened for Lucinda Williams at the Ryman Auditorium and signed to Rick Rubin's American Songs publishing company. Colter Wall (May 12, 2017) was produced by Cobb at RCA Studio A in Nashville, with Cobb on acoustic guitar, Chris Powell on drums, Mike Webb on piano and Robby Turner on pedal steel. Wall wanted a spare sound: it's about the holes, he said, meaning the choosing of what to leave out. Saving Country Music gave it 8 out of 10 and called him more folk than country, with murder ballads and harrowing hobo tales at the heart of his songs.

Songs of the Plains (October 12, 2018, 34:08) has covers of Wilf Carter, Billy Don Burns and Harry Stephens; it reached 36 in Canada and number seven on the US folk chart, and Pitchfork gave it 7.6. Western Swing and Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs (August 28, 2020) reached number one on the UK country chart, and Little Songs came out on July 14, 2023 and Memories and Empties on November 14, 2025. On March 11, 2026 he announced the cancellation of his remaining 2026 tour dates and an indefinite hiatus from live music.

Songs and screen

"Sleeping on the Blacktop" has been used in Hell or High Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, The Peripheral and Yellowstone, and is certified 2x Platinum by the RIAA. "Kate McCannon" and "Motorcycle" are RIAA Gold. Setlist.fm logs 373 setlists, with Sleeping on the Blacktop played 165 times, Motorcycle 144, Kate McCannon 114 and Thirteen Silver Dollars 109, and his guests include Belle Plaine, John Clay and Vincent Neil Emerson.