The Road has found its first-ever champion in Adam Sanders. On the Dec. 21 season finale of the CBS competition series, Sanders beat out Channing Wilson and Cassidy Daniels to take home the crown.
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“It felt like I was living in a dream, to be honest with you,” Sanders told American Songwriter of being announced as the winner. “… I just felt very honored, very grateful, and very humbled.”
“We get told so many times in this business ‘No. Not right now. It’s not your time. It’s someone else’s time. That song’s good, but this other artist sounds better singing it.’ We get overlooked,” he added. “It felt good to finally be the one that someone looked at and said, ‘It’s your turn.’”
What Went Down During the Season Finale of The Road
Walking away victorious was no easy feat. During the finale, the three remaining artists, who’d spent the preceding weeks opening up for Keith Urban on tour, put on the show of their lives at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.
After his cover of Brooks & Dunn’s “That Ain’t No Way to Go” and his performance of his original song “All Summer Long,” Sanders “felt really good” about his time on stage.
Then he remembered “the caliber of artists” he was up against, both of whom had been “favorites all the way through this thing.”
Those thoughts permeated so deeply that, one hour before he was announced as the winner, Sanders made a prediction.
“Adam had told me, ‘This is gonna be between you and Cassidy,’” Wilson recalled to American Songwriter. “He didn’t feel like he stood a chance beating us.”
Despite that feeling, Sanders wound up on top.
“When it was all said and done, it was just this wave of, man, everything that I had been through in my career prepared me for that night,” he said. “Even the weeks leading up to being on the show, they all prepared me for that night as well.”
What’s Next for ‘The Road’ Winner Adam Sanders
As the winner of the show, Sanders has been awarded $250,000, a recording contract, and a set at Stagecoach. It’s the latter aspect of the prize that has Sanders the most excited.
“I’ve always sort of said that I love to perform in all different aspects of shows, but, for me, give me the biggest stage and the biggest crowd ever and that’s where I feel the most at home,” he said. “And so to perform at a show like Stagecoach, it’s going to be a dream come true. I’m really going to relish it when that time comes.”
While Sanders is hard at work on new music right now, there’s no timeline for when it’ll be released.
“I have no idea what is next for me,” he admitted. “I’m just taking this day by day as it comes and just trying to do my best to live in the moment and be in the present time. I’m trying not to steer the ship and letting the good Lord lead me where he wants me to go.”
Photo Connie Chornuk ©2025 CBS Broadcasting Inc.
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