Premiere: Christian Dixon’s ‘Lost in the Blue’ is about giving grace to those who need it

Christian Dixon. // image courtesy the artist

Singer-songwriter Christian Dixon’s new song, “Lost in the Blue,” could easily have been something different, says the musician one afternoon over Zoom. The quiet and introspective song speaks to those impacted by bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder, whether the listener themselves deals with the disorder or has a loved one with it.

“The funny thing is that I wrote the song originally as more of a Zach Bryan-esque breakup song,” laughs Dixon. “And then I was like, ‘No, there’s more to it than just that.’”

Obviously, Dixon continues, romantic relationships are important, but platonic relationships, family members, and work relationships can also be challenging for those navigating life with a mental illness.

“You would hope that those people who care about you would give you the grace to find yourself in that,” Dixon explains. “So, the song is almost like, ‘Hey guys, I wrote this for you so you can understand where I’m at whenever these things are happening.’”

The message is already resonating with Dixon’s people because the Kickstarter to fund the single’s release has already exceeded its goal ahead of its Sunday, January 25 end date. While working up the nerve to launch it was a bit of a struggle for the musician, he’s so excited about the results.

“It’s hard for me because I’m so willing and eager to cross oceans for other people, but I don’t assume that they would cross a puddle for me,” says Dixon, clarifying that viewpoint isn’t due to having been mistreated. “It’s just I don’t want to be seen as a burden to other people.”

In doing that, Dixon perhaps excludes the possibility that maybe people want to help him, and once James Carter of You Found Music helped get the Kickstarter going, the natural discussion around the song itself was actually pretty cathartic: “I was really glad that I could justify the existence of the Kickstarter by saying, ‘This is hopefully a meaningful song to you, ’cause it was meaningful to me.’”

Christian Dixon’s “Lost in the Blue” officially hits streaming services on Thursday, January 15, and you can exclusively preview it here while you read our interview with the musician.

“Lost in the Blue” marks the next step for Christian Dixon as a musician. He released the Genetics EP last year, a collection of demos in which you can hear him finding his footing with a sound that does, yes, follow in the footsteps of Zach Bryan’s country troubadour stylings, but also falls in line with the likes of Ruston Kelly’s dirt emo, reflecting the dichotomy of growing up on both the constant hum of country music in the midwest, while also listening to your own sad music through your earbuds.

“Genetics came from almost–not so much desperation as zen,” Dixon recalls, saying that it was mostly a strong sense of, “If I don’t record it, it will never get recorded.”

2025 saw Dixon as more adamant about wanting to go from just talking about being an artist and playing in living rooms for his friends to actually wanting to make music a goal to chase. The EP was the result of the musician realizing he needed to have something to point people to and say, “This is who I see myself as an artist.”

Maybe it’s not the most polished or overly-produced, Dixon admits, but he sees it as a good ground-level point from which he can start and later build off of.

“That was what inspired me to really engage in more open mics around Kansas City, doing a lot more networking events,” Dixon says, and that’s how he met Riley Corbin, who runs Hard Cut Studios in the Northlands, and ended up recording “Lost in the Blue.”

“He’s just a really great guy,” Dixon says. “He took me out to drinks one time, was like, ‘Tell me your story, tell me what you wanna see happen with a project,’ and I shared ‘Lost in the Blue’ and I told him what it meant to me and he just really made me feel comfortable with trusting him to make that come to life.”

The end result is a deeply meaningful song that also benefits from the deeper levels of production value, although in terms of genre or influence, Dixon is more than willing to leave that distinction up to the listener. He has a hard time putting labels on himself because he feels he hasn’t yet earned his stripes as a performer. However, Dixon does point to the fact that he’s inspired by Phoebe Bridgers as an amazing lyricist and that Matt Mason’s raw, powerful vocals are also inspirational, as is Jon Foreman from Switchfoot.

“Ever since I was a kid I was like, ‘Man, this guy is a wizard with metaphors and poetry,’” Dixon says of Foreman. “It’s weird to lump myself in a category of my heroes, but I do see that–like you said [about] Ruston Kelly with that dirt emo–I definitely align myself with that brand of the mid-Westerner who wants more but is also really proud of being a mid-Westerner and I think that does influence a lot of the songwriting that I do.”

Christian Dixon’s “Lost in the Blue” officially hits streaming services on Thursday, January 15. The release party is on Saturday, February 21, at the Rino with David Luther and Martha Sin Del. Details on that show here.