New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Shore Fire Media) Sam Baker is a survivor. He's dug ditches in Texas, guided whitewater rafting trips down the Rio Grande, and once barely escaped with his life after a terrorist train bombing in Peru killed seven of his fellow passengers. With a "deceptive simplicity and an insouciance that at times recall John Prine" (Mojo), the
Texas songwriter takes stock of it all on his new album, 'say grace,' out August 27. Baker is currently playing select dates and will soon announce a full tour.
Listen to new song "ditch" below:
'say grace' is Sam Baker's first self-produced album and his first studio album since the trilogy release, 'mercy' ("Essential,"
Texas Music), 'pretty world' ("Magnificent," BBC), and 'cotton' (Best of 2009, No Depression). Featuring musicians such as Gurf Morlix, Anthony Da Costa, Ray Wylie Hubbard's drummer Rick Richards, and more, the 14 original songs of 'say grace' are also his most richly orchestrated to date.
"To say grace means to say thank you," he says. "It means to be grateful for what is before me - for what I have. It means to not be bitter about what I don't have and really, to not be bitter about things I lost."
The things he lost included, for a long time, his ability to walk and his hearing (still only partially recovered) after the 1986 Machu Picchu train bombing. After clinging to life in a Peruvian hospital, he was airlifted back to
Texas in the nick of time to begin the long road to recovery. The lesson he learned that horrible day, that life is fragile and therefore all the more valuable, informed the songs on 'say grace.'
Full of wit, romance, and darkness, 'say grace' contains reminders of how bitter and brittle life can be: A woman is haunted by her belittling mother on the title track, a couple is isolated and freezing in a cabin in "panhandle winter", and 12 migrant farm workers die in the Arizona desert in "migrants" - an update of Woody Guthrie's immigrant anthem "Deportee." And yet the record radiates a resilient optimism. It riffs everyone from
Taylor Swift in "ditch" to Yeats in "feast." It begins with one kind of prayer, "say grace," and ends with another, "go in peace," celebrating the here and now.
'say grace' Tracklist
01. say grace
02. the tattooed woman
03. road crew
04. migrants
05. white heat
06. ditch
07. interlude
08. isn't love great
09. introduction to feast
10. feast
11. sweet hour of prayer
12. panhandle winter
13. button by button
14. go in peace
SAM BAKER TOUR DATES:
7/13 - Okemah, OK @ The Woody Guthrie Folk Festival
8/31 - Jamestown, CA @ Strawberry
Music Festival
9/28 - Kansas City, MO @ The Folly Theater
Sam Baker on the Web:
https://sambakermusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/SamBakermusicianpage
https://twitter.com/SamBakerMusic
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