So, the other day I mentioned that I was listening to Sam Baker, and linked to his website. Because I’m lazy I loaded it to copy and paste the URL. Which is a good thing, because that’s how I found out he was playing in Gateshead on Thursday. So, a few texts between family members and bribing of babysitters later, I got to play out on a week night.

If you’ve never heard of Sam, listen to his album ‘Mercy’, there’s debate in my family as to which album is best, but I would say to start at the beginning. And it’s my favourite too.

We ended up running late (co ordinating travelling from three different places is complicated). So, I wasn’t very organised. Nothing new there though! I’d never been to Gateshead Town Hall before, and it was surprisingly big. They had a very nice piano too.

I like Sam’s music because he sings about real things, stories and his own experiences. He has fantastic banter between songs, and shares his stories with the audience, making you understand where the songs came from. His songs express emotion and his lyrics are uncomplicated and forthright. And well, kinda beautiful, I think.

Anyway, I’m rambling again.. For those of you familiar with Sam, the second set songs were: say the right words, angel hair, Palestine, cotton, iron (with tour manager Rebecca Kemp singing too), waves, Odessa, a new song (yay!), with boxes and snow as requests.

There’s a new album at some point too. Which is great. And hopefully another tour next year? We’ll be more prepared next time. Two years ago we saw him in a place called Chorley. It was a road trip for us, and despite the car going nuts on the way home (we ended up parked outside a house on a country lane, while the car randomly locked and unlocked the doors and boot, sounded the alarm and turned the wipers on and off, only to behave perfectly when a mechanic arrived. After unlocking the boot while we were on a motorway), it was a really good trip and we’d all like to do it again.

So, I’ll end by misquoting (probably):
Go in peace, go in kindness, go in love, go in faith…