Customer Reviews

Mercy

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sam Baker is the best new songwriter anywhere, period. Every roots musician is raving about this guy, and it's easy to see why. A smart, acoustic based wordsmith that will bring John Prine to mind. His life's story will floor you too if you look into it. He was actually blown apart by a bomb overseas. He's one hell of a human being; a true inspiration to us all. You can find this at cdbaby or from Bull Creek Productions. Expect his sophomore later this year.

Seriously, this is one of the best singer-songwriter/Americana albums you're ever going to hear. If you like folks such as Guy Clark, Robert Earl Keen, Terry Allen or Mary Gauthier, or wish Townes Van Zandt had actually been more fun to listen to, then this album is for you. It's really quite good.

I wrote this for Sam's site, but I'll add it here.....

Not five stars..... TEN!! I read about Sam in Texas Music Magazine, went to his website, listened to two songs... and bought three albums, one for me and two for friends!! I'm now going to do what little I can to promote this guy! Maybe I shouldn't mention this, but Sam's song remind me of those of George Wirth. They both write small, perfectly realized stories that astonish at every turn.

Sam's songs.... I just can't get over finding him!! I'm listening to "Truale" as I write this.... "She was born in that ranch house, Her daddy slapped her alive, The doctor still in town, He was too drunk to drive... (She) Drove a t-bird with the top down A cold beer between her thighs...." Man.... I love that!!

Listen to "Waves".... If it doesn't tear your heart out, check to see if you have one.... Please support Sam. His like doesn't come along often.

If you have heard one Sam Baker song on some Alt something radio station somewhere and are looking it up on Amazon, rest assured that the whole album is as good as that song. Buy it and it is inevitable that you will fall for Same Baker and the characters in his songs. This is will be one of your favourite CD's for a long time.

The music of Texas-based singer-songwriter Sam Baker was new to me..... until I heard him sing in a "song circle" with his fellow Texan Jimmy LaFave at this year's annual International Folk Alliance Conference in Memphis. The moment Baker opened his mouth to sing I knew from his unique delivery that he had something to say. His voice is roughly hewn and sounds like he gargles with razor blades - not unlike the impression I get when listening to Tom Waits. But his pacing is what grabs you - as it did for the hundred-plus others in the room during this showcase. The song was a track from another of his albums - "Coton" - and it stayed in my mind the whole weekend.

I needed to know more about Baker and hear his music, which led me to this album - one of a trilogy of CDs that he recorded for LaFave's own label, Music Road Records (founded in 2007). Visually - and graphically - the three CDs look nearly identical in their white digipaks with a stark white photo on the front. Inside are the CD and a booklet with the songs' lyrics in a font and typeface you can actually read. (rare these days). This is important because it's Baker's lyrics you want to experience and they often read like poetry.

On this CD Baker borrows lyrics and music from some traditional folk songs and incorporates them within the performance. But I emphasize the word "incorporates" as he doesn't perform these "borrowed" songs complete.

Baker is a unique songwriter with a distinctive voice. He needs to be discovered by more folks. Hopefully, with publicity from LaFave - and appearances at events like the Folk Alliance - where folk radio DJs come to discover new music to play, he'll find a wider audience.

Meanwhile, listen to some samples and discover Baker for yourself. I'm glad I did.

Steve Ramm

"Anything Phonographic"

A sensational singer/songwriter . The bare minimum in the arrangements , but what great music . He should go very far .

get this now. see him live, he's on tour now. i can't remember the last time music resonated w/ me like this.

"Mercy" is the first of Sam Baker's amazing trilogy, the others are "Pretty World" and "Cotton".

Sam work is simply superb. I'm really thankful I found his music. He's an amazing artist and a gifted artist in many ways, he paints as well. His art work is starting to get as much attention as his music.

His awesome story could make a really interesting movie but I kinda hope that doesn't happen.....too much attention can sometimes ruin a good thing.

Other reviewers have mentioned some of their favorite songs on this album......for me it's hard to single out a just few but, I'd probably pick "Waves", "Pony" and "Thursday" but ask me tomorrow and I might select three different ones.

Sam's voice isn't a thing of beauty but he can sing his songs with an elegance and grace that another artist probably couldn't.

I can't reccomend Sam's music high enough, if you like Americana don't miss Sam!

I first heard a song from this album on BBC Radio 2's Bob Harris' Country show and thought I'd give it a try. I've got to say its not what I was expecting but exactly what I wanted. Sam Baker isn't the best singer in fact he doesn't really sing that much mostly half talks his lyrics. He also has a very simple basic approach to lyrics, why use 10 words when you can use 1. However, it is very effective and he manages to draw you into each song and you feel you know the character and sympathise/empathise with each. Too be able to tell a story using so few words is a very difficult thing to master.

Also and most importantly the music is very melodious mostly acoustic folky/country sounding but good use is made of strings too. Whether it is a slower sadder song or a faster funnier song each song becomes more listenable with each listen. Take a song like Thursday the beauty is in its pure sweet simplicity but it is also deceptive as you follow the story of a possibly homeless single mother you can see her, picture where she is and and feel her sadness and frustration much more that you should be able to with the few lines of the song. Its heartbreaking but there is also something uplifting and hopeful in the song.

I understand that his singing style and his lyrics short phrasing is in part due to damage he suffered when he was caught in a bomb blast in Peru. This led to him having to re-learn the guitar using his other hand and left him with difficulty recalling words. Listen to Broken Fingers on his Pretty World album which is about a young boy and his family who were next to him but who all died in the blast. Powerful stuff.

Every once in awhile you come across a song that is so immediately compelling, so perfectly crafted, so suffused with a wise understanding of the human condition that you just have to take a deep breath and thank the musical gods! There actually are two songs on Mercy that hit me like that every time I listen to them: Baseball and Angels.

Sam Baker is the master of giving expression to his subjects' souls. With him everything is laid bare right on the table for all to see. Call it transcendent minimalism -- taking the most mundane moments, situations, and experiences and throwing a humanist's light onto how the people who inhabit his musical landscape understand their place in the world with a searing directness, inescapable honesty, and profound empathy that sets him apart from the vast majority of songwriters and singers out there.

There are times listening to him when I think: how the heck did he come up with that? Arresting, literally, I guess.

And there there is the simpleness -- or economy -- of the music and arrangements. Nothing gratuitous, nothing wasted. In that spirit, the song Mercy itself is the summation of the entire album Mercy: the perfect encapsulation of all the songs that come before it, the triumphantly simple and elegant summary of Sam's prodigious gifts.