Songwriter Sam Baker at the Gathering at Corner Theatre

Songwriter Sam Baker played at a community theater in Mesquite last Friday accompanied by drummer Mike Meadows, who just got off tour with none other than Willie himself. I had heard Meadows' name before but couldn't remember where, and a quick Google search revealed that he had played with about eight zillion musicians including Hayes Carll, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Ruthie Foster, and Gurf Morlix. No wonder I had heard his name before.

Sam Baker played songs such as "Odessa," "Isn't Love Grand," "Orphan," "Waves," and "Broken Fingers." He closed his set with a song of benediction, with "Go in Peace." And then, as an encore, he played his crowd-pleaser, "Ditch." "Ditch" was praised in Rolling Stone for its gratuitous reference to Taylor Swift, which is kind of ironic if you know the music of Sam Baker. Here is a man who references William Butler Yeats in his work, a man who writes about the power of kindness and love, a man who writes with almost unfathomable vulnerability, yet he gains notoriety for his reference to a pop music sweetheart.  C'est la vie.

Baker also played three songs from his upcoming album to be released in May. One song, "A Flashlight and a Forty-five," I had heard him play before. The song is about the men called "tunnel rats" who were sent looking for the enemy in the tunnels of Vietnam with a flashlight and a weapon. After the show, my father went and talked to Sam about the song, for he had known some "tunnel rats" in his day. In my mind, Sam Baker is one of the finest songwriters playing today, and I am looking forward to his new album. His first four albums are in heavy rotation around my house, and I anticipate that his fifth album will quickly join that rotation.

Here is a link to Sam Baker on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/user/SamBakerVideo