About this concert
Sam Baker makes people happy. The characters in his songs face many challenges?alcoholism, car wrecks, racism, drug addiction, a mother's abandonment?but they persevere. Much like Sam himself.
In 1986 Sam got in the middle of someone else's war. When a terrorist bomb exploded in his train compartment, he went from being a young, healthy, tourist enjoying Peru with friends to a broken man surrounded by death and dying. Given his injuries, he too should have died. But through a series of miracles and coincidences he survived.
There were lots of surgeries, and the requisite pain pills. His leg was saved by a successful femoral arterial graft. When the cranial bleed in his brain healed, he had to relearn nouns, and after his right eardrum was replaced, he regained some hearing. With the top of his left hand gone, it seemed that his formerly skilful hands had been transformed into blocks of wood, but eventually those hands learned how to play an upside-down guitar.
Physically, Sam was recovering, but his life was filled with pills, booze, and rage. Then came the voices and messengers that helped him see that the greatest gift is life itself. He learned about forgiveness. He needed to tell his story. Songs started to come from that upside-down guitar. Before he knew it, there were CDs, tours around the world, an interview with Terry Gross, and awards in Rolling Stone.
Sam feels compelled to tell his story?through his music, art, or any means possible?to one person at a time, or to thousands from a festival stage.
A Sam Baker show is a celebration. Some songs tell of everyday people who survive life's daily challenges; others are stories of growing up in a small Texas prairie town. All his shows are an acknowledgment and appreciation of the pure joy that comes with people gathering to listen to live music. Sam's fans travel to see him, often driving hours to experience the powerful performance. After the show, they tell Sam their stories.
Go in peace. Go in kindness. Go in love.
"Simultaneously beautiful and broken, Sam Baker is an artist worth waiting for" (NPR All Things Considered)
"The Bard of the Workaday World" (Wall Street Journal)
"Maybe the most captivating songwriter in America." (Lone Star Music)
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What fans are saying
Billy
April 29th 2024
I’m not too much into poetry-sounds like rap to me. But I do appreciate it when its set to music and it is a song. Sam Baker songs are great. Sang a couple of my favorites. Rodney Crowell was pretty darn good his own self.
Austin, TX@Saxon Pub
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Sam Baker Biography
Sam Baker’s music and story have been shared by some of the most prestigious media outlets in the world-NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Rolling Stone Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and numerous others. He is a true artist in every way, sharing amazing life experiences through music, story, and art.
Baker’s story includes surviving devastating injuries from a terrorist bomb on a bus bound for Machu Picchu, Peru in 1986. Most of the passengers were killed, including the German family that he had befriended. His injuries required him to relearn how to walk, move, and speak. Many years and over 15 operations later, Baker sees beauty in everything around him and expresses his new-found life every day, sometimes with paint and canvas, or a camera, and sometimes with a guitar and song.
Baker released his first record, Mercy, in 2004, the first in a trilogy of song paintings with sparse instrumentation and poetic delivery. It was followed by Pretty World in 2007, and Cotton in 2009. His 2013 release, ‘say grace,’ was named one of the Top Ten Country Albums of 2013 by Rolling Stone Magazine. His latest release, Land of Doubt (June 2017) is well on its way to similar attention and praise. A recent review published nationwide by Scott Stroud of the Associated Press says that Land of Doubt is “utterly evocative…”
“Life is a gift,” Baker says. “Gratitude for what remains is more helpful than resentment for what was lost. Ultimately, I came to understand that these days are wicked short and terribly beautiful. All I’ve got is this one breath, and if I’m lucky, I get another.”
Read MoreBaker’s story includes surviving devastating injuries from a terrorist bomb on a bus bound for Machu Picchu, Peru in 1986. Most of the passengers were killed, including the German family that he had befriended. His injuries required him to relearn how to walk, move, and speak. Many years and over 15 operations later, Baker sees beauty in everything around him and expresses his new-found life every day, sometimes with paint and canvas, or a camera, and sometimes with a guitar and song.
Baker released his first record, Mercy, in 2004, the first in a trilogy of song paintings with sparse instrumentation and poetic delivery. It was followed by Pretty World in 2007, and Cotton in 2009. His 2013 release, ‘say grace,’ was named one of the Top Ten Country Albums of 2013 by Rolling Stone Magazine. His latest release, Land of Doubt (June 2017) is well on its way to similar attention and praise. A recent review published nationwide by Scott Stroud of the Associated Press says that Land of Doubt is “utterly evocative…”
“Life is a gift,” Baker says. “Gratitude for what remains is more helpful than resentment for what was lost. Ultimately, I came to understand that these days are wicked short and terribly beautiful. All I’ve got is this one breath, and if I’m lucky, I get another.”
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