Sam Baker is a story teller that reaches to your soul and pulls on you. This man and his band have made a CD that is just plain beautiful and real. I love it, and look forward to hearing more from him. I beg him; Come to North Carolina soon. Sam has a bright future making his music.

If ever i wanted someone to sing my song Sams the Man, a poet a painter of words a true impressionist.

Amazing CD. If you are a fan of Todd Snider and Adam Carroll. This CD is for you. This one sits at the TOP of my BEST OF 2005 so far this year. Produced by Walt Wilkins. (excellent job, Walt)

I have not heard lyrics of this quality since God knows when.I want to buy a bunch of Mr. Bakers cds and give them to all my friends! His complex stories are delivered in such simplicity, one does a doubletake. Buy this cd, support this artist, enrich your life.

Sam's got a great record here. It's got hold of me like records used to do. I've travelled with it, played it at home, at work and even learned one of the tunes. I suspect he's honed his craft a long while. As a writer and artist he's on par with Dylan, Guy Clark, Ralph Stanley or Si Kahn. I wouldn't know if Sam's a prolific writer like those folks but the emotion and abiltiy to draw me into the song is there, just the same. Mercy sounds good too. Rich and full, sometimes sparse and plaintive, the tones are pure, the listening easy. To top it off, vocals and instuments are in tune! One of the best records in my collection. Gary Gordon [email protected]

Raw and tender lyrics that tear at your heart. Sam makes you believe he's lived these stories or knows someone who has. I enjoyed his live set on Larry Monroe's Folkway's.

Sam Baker has created a new Texas Tradition in music. He to stretches the envelope of the all emcompasing Texas Music Sound, without forgetting his roots. I don't know if destiny will find Sam Baker, but if it does, role over Robert Earl Keen.

LISTENING TO SAM BAKER IS SO REFRESHING, SO NEW, IT MAKES YOU REALIZE THIS IS WHAT MUSIC IS REALLY ABOUT. THEN IT MAKES YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN MISSING. I HAVE SEEN SAM BAKER IN TENNESSEE, AND IN TEXAS, AND THE REACTION IS THE SAME, VERY POWERFUL. DO YOURSELVES A FAVOR, CHECK OUT SAM BAKER. GET A GLASS OF WHATEVER, A ILTTLE QUIET TIME AND THE "MERCY" CD....YOU WILL FIND A LITTLE PIECE OF HEAVEN FLOWING ON THE WIND.

Every song that was sung at the Austin City Limits Festival this weekend came from some sort of life experience. Out On the Porch, Jim Swift brings us an Austin singer-songwriter with a song that goes to the very heart of the experience of life and death. (The following is a transcript of Out On the Porch.) Singer-songwriter Sam Baker sings: "He walks down to the ocean; he bends to touch the water, kneels to pray; writes her name in the sand; waves wash it away." Sam Baker always writes a song the same way. Baker says: "Take words out, take words out, take words out. Take words out and then take more words out. Reduce, reduce, reduce and then reduce more." Baker sings: "Things change, ah they change a lot; things change." Things change, boy howdy. We're going to go back inside now and this time, I'd like you to take a good, close look at Sam Baker's left hand. Baker sings, "There were horses, there were horses, there were horses to ride." Baker says: "In '86 I was on a train and the train was, the car, the passenger car that I was in was blown up by, by terrorists, by, that's called the Shining Path in Peru, in Cuzco, Peru. And the people I sat with, it was a German boy and his mother and father, they all three were killed as were seven, six others. And I think several others died after that." Baker sings: "Sittin' on the train to Machu Picchu, passenger car explodes; there's not enough time to say good-bye; there's not enough time to know what's gone wrong. God have mercy, I believe my heart has failed; smoke rises through a hole in the roof; the dead say, 'Fare thee well.'" In one sense, the dead were the fortunate ones. Baker barely made it out of Peru alive, and it took 18 major surgeries to put him back together. Baker sings, "I swear, Jesus take me now 'cause I'm about to go insane." In the beginning, the anger was overwhelming, bordering on rage, but the years rolled by. Baker sings: "Smoke rises through a hole in the roof, the dead say, 'Fare thee well.'" Baker says: "If I'm terrifically angry, it generally doesn't do anything to anyone else, except makes them angry. But mostly rage was self-defeating, was a massive waste of energy." Baker sings: "Smoke rises through a hole in the roof, the dead say, 'Fare thee well.'" And as Baker reduces his song, he reduces the experience, as well, to what really matters. Baker says: "Gratitude goes a long way; just being grateful is pretty nice, is pretty good." Baker tells audience: "Thank you, thank you all." Sam Baker's CD, "Mercy," is available at Waterloo Records. For more information, check out Sam Baker's Web site. http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=2326430&nav=3dg9R7v9

Very similar story to the first reviewer. While on a weekend get away in Fredricksberg we happened on Sam and Walt Wilkins play live music from their soon to be released individual CD's. We had a blast as they each plowed through their new songs. Sam's ability to tell a story in his songs is very refreshing and I play his CD quite often.