{"id":18206,"date":"2013-08-21T07:59:21","date_gmt":"2013-08-21T15:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/?p=18206"},"modified":"2013-08-21T07:59:21","modified_gmt":"2013-08-21T15:59:21","slug":"meet-the-great-sam-baker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/2013-08\/meet-the-great-sam-baker\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet The Great Sam Baker"},"content":{"rendered":"

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We were minding our own business when the music of Sam Baker<\/strong><\/a> fell out of the sky and turned the taciturn to transport.\u00a0 We were taken away by Baker’s<\/strong> spare music and his deftly-sketched stories of happy old-marrieds, ditch-diggers,\u00a0first-grade teachers, road crews, and lovers.\u00a0 His voice recalls John Prine, Townes Van Zandt<\/strong>, and (to our ears) even Joseph Arthur<\/strong>.\u00a0 And it is his hide-nothing voice that carries you away.\u00a0 This is especially true on his new Kickstarter<\/strong>-funded album, Say Grace<\/strong><\/em>, which will be released in North America next week.\u00a0 You can buy Say Grace<\/strong><\/em> now, however, via iTunes<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 Do yourself a favor and go buy this fine album.<\/p>\n

Baker<\/strong> grew up in a small town near Dallas, and grew up in a music-filled house.\u00a0 He went to college and then took various jobs in order to travel.\u00a0 It was during that travel that\u00a0Baker’s life would be forever changed.\u00a0 While traveling by train in Peru in 1986, a terrorist bomb exploded<\/strong> and, while others died around him, Baker was severely injured, losing much of his hearing and suffering serious injuries to his arms\/hands.\u00a0 The next decade brought multiple surgeries and a healing process that eventually would inform his astute and sympathetic worldview.\u00a0 Baker eventually relearned the guitar and overcame his hearing loss to develop his own performance style.\u00a0 Baker, who now resides in Austin, has self-released three critically-acclaimed albums prior to Say Grace<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Despite (or, perhaps, because of) this backdrop, Baker now approaches life positively:\u00a0 \u201cLife is a gift. I went through a lot of bitterness- a lot of anger. But those things are toxic. \u00a0Gratitude for what remains is more helpful than resentment for what was lost. \u00a0Ultimately, I came to understand that these days are wicked short and terribly beautiful. \u00a0All I\u2019ve got\u2014no matter what I hold in my hands, drive around in, or put in the bank,- \u00a0all I\u2019ve got is this one breath, and if I\u2019m lucky, I get another.\u201d<\/p>\n

We’ll have a full review of Say Grace<\/strong><\/em> after we’ve given it it’s full due.\u00a0 In the meantime, to get a feel for Baker and his songs check out the first lyric video from the new album for song White Heat<\/strong><\/em> (featuring video and photos of rural, tornado-torn Oklahoma<\/strong>), <\/em>followed by Baker’s<\/strong> live performance of Say Grace<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 The final video is Baker’s personal reaction (given his history) to the Boston Marathon bombing<\/strong> and performance of older song Angels (For the Bombing Victims)<\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 Powerful stuff.\u00a0 The lyrics to Say Grace<\/strong><\/em> and Angels<\/em><\/strong> are at bottom.<\/p>\n