Sam King is another excellent Arkansas musician. He is currently on tour, so you should check his myspace and see if he’s in your area anytime soon. I’ve seen Sam play live many many times, most of which were at the Dinosaur House, a house show venue in Fayetteville. But, as fate would have it, he recently played Ypsilanti, MI, which is only an hour and a half from East Lansing. So I drove down and saw him play. It was a bit weird seeing him in a different environment like that, but it was good as always.

He has a new self released album out called Two and it is very good. In the two years I’ve been hearing Sam play, he has sharpened songwriting skill, expanded his guitar style and gained more control over his voice. “1980’s Finest” is one his best songs lyrically. Like many of his songs, it’s a vignette about people and interpersonal conflict. “Endless Little Greys” has some lovely slide guitar overdubs that nicely counterpoint the minimal guitar line in the song. If you enjoy singer songwriters that are in the folk milieu who keep their arrangements minimal and focus on the melody, like early Iron & Wine or Donovan, you will enjoy this. And if you want to buy it, visit his MySpace.
Sam King – Endless Little Greys
Sam King – 1980’s Finest