Sam Baker...new Album 'c o T T o N '

While travelling in Peru at age 32, Sam Baker took a train ride that would change his life. On a clear cool morning in Cuzco in the summer of 1986, Sam boarded a passenger train that was blown up minutes later by terrorists.  Initially, seven died. The dead included a German boy and his parents who were sitting with Baker in the car. Baker survived, but with lasting damage- deafness, a mangled hand, a mangled leg, and brain damage affecting speech and memory. At 55, words are still occasionally unremembered, requiring extensive search. However, during these searches, he finds other words. From these other words, he finds other stories. And with these stories come characters from other places and times.

The p r e t t y  w o r l d trilogy

The trilogy is its own making. m e r c y (2004) attempts to come to terms with the flash of impact- the quick violence and the eerie post-blast quiet.  It was written as a single piece of art attempting to make sense of sudden death and the lottery quality of shrapnel: the death of some and the survival of others. In the interim, while sorting out life and death on the train, other characters appeared- an ironworker, kids playing baseball, an old widower on a beach. Beauty appears and prevails.

p r e t t y  w o r l d (2007) explores gratitude, obligation, and again, beauty. It forms itself as a bookend to m e r c y. Other characters debut: the son of an oil baron, a man in a blue suede cowboy hat, a woman at a swimming pool. 

c o t t o n (2009) is the last (and perhaps most difficult) piece of the trilogy. The cost of forgiveness is weighed against the cost of not forgiving. Other characters walk onto the stage: a field hand, a pulp wood logger, a serving girl, a young Mennonite.  Once again beauty is a constant.

Baker’s music is authenticated by experience. Seldom in modern music is the listener able to hear a unique voice with an uncommon story. As told through Sam’s voice himself: “Life is beautiful, difficult, terrible, and transcendent.  Each of us is part and parcel of one great community, one great p r e t t y  w o r l d that reaches back to a time before recall and reaches forward beyond imagination. We are love. We are hope. We are stories.”


Praise for p r e t t y  w o r l d …

Magnificent, one of the great albums of the year. Bob Harris

Imagine Steve Earle, Shane MacGowan and Johnny Cash jamming in a back street Austin, Texas bar when in comes Nick Cave and the spirit of Townes Van Zandt.  A classic album.
Sean McGhee, Editor Rock ‘N’ Reel

Despite the six-piece band and various guests (including Gurf Morlix), this is understated, affecting music, and even the songs that don't quote old gospel standards (Orphan; Odessa) sound like you've always known them. Sylvie Simmons, Mojo

There are lots of influences, not least the gritty poetic voice of Guy Clark and the stories of Raymond Carver and Richard Ford. Baker picks from all to create something that buzzes with truth and honesty framed by alt. country melodies, arrangements of earthy elegance and a voice of gravelly grace. Joe Breen, The Irish Times

This is an album of fascinating rhythmic ideas, stunning poetic lyrics and beautifully-judged arrangements. Michael Hingston, Country Music People

Praise for m e r c y …

It is a rare occurrence these days to find some new music that really moves you. I mean something that stops you in your tracks and worms its way deeper into the consciousness than most things can do. This is more than music. This is a shuddering wake up slap in the face. Sam Baker has produced a suite of work that will penetrate you right to the core. Maverick

Mercy makes for an unassuming, unexpected treat and introduces Baker as another talented Texas troubadour in the tradition of Keen, McCurry, and Townes Van Zandt. All Music Guide

Mercy is one of my favorite albums of the last five years. Gurf Morlix

His lyrics are filled with imagery and color, almost blinding in intensity, hitting you like the sun's rays do when driving into a Western sky in the glaring hour before that fireball disappears into dusk. You feel the beauty while bracing for the pain. Highly recommended. Sing Out!