Colton Dixon Offers a 'Christian's Response to Halloween' with 'Bones'

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At first blush, Colton Dixon’s newest song has all the makings of a Halloween anthem —a cemetery-themed track about skeletons, bones and even dead men walking.

But beneath the surface, that song —"Bones" —delivers a message firmly grounded in Scripture.

“It's about the Valley of Dry Bones — Ezekiel 37,” Dixon told Crosswalk Headlines.

The music video leans into the October motif by placing Dixon in a cemetery at night, amid smoke and old-style tombstones, one of which eerily reads “Here Lies Colton Dixon.” As Dixon gazes at his own grave, he sings: “I was a dead man walking; barely alive; just when my grave was calling; from the other side; good versus evil; you showed me the light; darkness fades, and the skeletons shake; when you call upon His name; you bring these bones to life.”

“I'm so excited for this song,” Dixon said.

“The goal of the song is to equip believers. We experience hard things in life when we walk through dry seasons, seasons where it seems like things are dead. But God gave us the authority to prophesy to those dead things and to call them to life. And so, it’s just a reminder.

“We're definitely capitalizing on the season of October, and we had so much fun doing it.”

Dixon labels it a “Christian’s response to Halloween.”

In Ezekiel 37, God shows the prophet a valley of dry bones, then brings them together, covers them with flesh and breathes life into them. It represented God’s promise to restore the people of Israel.

“It's a song that I really wanted to put out, and I kind of had to fight for it, even within my own team,” Dixon said. “But we're doing it, and I'm stoked.”

Dixon first gained national attention as a contestant on American Idol in 2012. But he says God began preparing him for a career in Christian music years before he stepped onto that stage.

“I grew up in the church. I love Christian music. I still do today. It was my thing when I was seven or eight years old. I gave my life to the Lord, but that was kind of the start of the story. At 13, I was at a piano recital, and my piano teacher put a microphone out there, and he's like, ‘I think you need to sing tonight.’

“I was like, ‘Bad idea, 13-year-old boy going through puberty — not a good idea,’ but I did it, and I encountered the Holy Spirit for the first time. And man, it just changed the trajectory of my life. And I'm so thankful that I get to call this industry home. I love that I get to do it.”

Photo Credit: ©AtlanticRecords - ScreenGrab

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel. 

Listen to Michael's Podcast! He is the host of Crosswalk Talk, a podcast where he talks with Christian movie stars, musicians, directors, and more. Hear how famous Christian figures keep their faith a priority in Hollywood and discover the best Christian movies, books, television, and other entertainment. You can find Crosswalk Talk on LifeAudio.com, or subscribe on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an interview that will be sure to encourage your faith.