Description
Review
More beautifully stark stories from Americana s current finest wordsmith
I was first introduced to Sam Baker s music five years ago by my only friend who likes Leonard Cohen and I will always be in that man’s debt.
Baker once survived a terrorist bomb blast on a train in South America and his survival and recovery has had a profound effect on his songwriting; which could be described as bleak and occasionally miserable; but if, like me you get Leonard Cohen you are in for a rare, fond treat with this; his latest album.
The album opens with the delightful intertwining of a guitar and exquisite piano on the title track; Say Grace; which goes onto to tell the tale of a woman looking back on her life as she peers into the dressing table mirror and remembers a pretty girl who leaves home, gets a job with a boss who s a creep, then falls in love with a boy; whom she runs away with; but it doesn t last and before she knows it she has grey hair, memories and she falls asleep with the TV on.
The intimate detail that Baker squeezes into five minutes should put many more successful songwriters to shame.
His songs are all stories and often kitchen sink dramas about the people he s met over the years; the people who most people don t see; but the ones with the most interesting stories.
Just like Randy Newman or Tom Waits; few of Baker s songs have melodies or choruses; and he has a voice that only a Mother could love; but when he can write and perform a song as subtle and personal as Road Crew you could forgive him anything.
On White Heat Sam takes a different route as he re-tells the end of Jimmy Cagney film of the same name and somehow manages to make it even more exciting than I remembered and when Carrie Elkin joins him to take the role of Cagney s Mother there won t be a dry eye in the house.
I first heard a version of Isn t Love Great when Baker toured last year and what was a peculiarly odd song has developed, with the edition of trumpets and a well crafted arrangement, into a wonderful love song about two outcasts from what we deem society but who would begrudge them love ? Certainly not me.
By Sam Baker s standards Button by Button is quite a jolly little tune and; again the detail that he includes can only be compared to Hemingway as two embarrassed lovers prepare to make love for the first time; leaving the listener feeling like a voyeur; but unable to tear ourselves away.
Without ever banging drums for attention; Politics are never too far away from a Sam Baker record and on SAY GRACE we get the heartbreaking, accordion led Migrants; about 14 poor souls who get lost in the dessert as they seek a new life; and the humorous Ditch about a man who scratches a living for a his family and crazy ass wife who God Bless her/for what it s worth/thinks she and Taylor Swift were separated at birth if you want a single taste of Sam Baker s work; find this song and tell me he s not a genius!
The album ends with a very short song, Go In Peace; which borders on an end of evening prayer and concludes one of the finest albums of 2013. –Alan Harrison – No Depression
Product Description
Sam Baker might be the most captivating songwriter in America-Lone Star Music Magazine, August 2013 Sam Baker’s music is simple, but don’t mistake that for a lack of depth. Baker’s songs are packed with rich imagery and instantly relatable sensibilities.-Paste Magazine July, 2013 Carefully drawn vignettes that are beautiful and delicate as a butterfly wing. -Flyin’ Shoes Review, July 2013 –In 1986 I was on a train in Cuzco, Peru that was blown up by terrorists. It killed the people I was sitting with. I had a cut artery, brain damage, blown in ear drums and should have died but I didn’t. I had lots of surgeries. Lots of ups and downs. Then lots of jobs, lots of bills. I moved constantly. The east coast, the midwest, the desert. I tried to figure out what it means to be blown up- to survive when others die. I wrote a lot. It was mostly drivel. But with the drivel came songs. They were mostly about other people. Kids having kids, old people, drunks in love, a barber with no nose, strangers, friends, and lovers. But there were also songs about getting blown up. My first record was mercy. It came out in 2004. I had terrible stage fright. In 2007 pretty world was released and in 2009 cotton. They formed a rough trilogy that I later called the mercy trilogy. The big theme was: everyone is at the mercy of another one’s dream This record is called say grace. It is the same as the other records but different. Just like life. The same but different. To say grace is to say thank you. It means to be grateful for what is before us- for what we have. It means to not be bitter about what we don’t have and really, to not be bitter about things lost. I turn 59 this year. Everyday is a miracle. —Sam–.
