Met up with Sam Baker (no relation) last night (16-09-11) after his gig at Newcastle’s Live Theatre and gave hima copy of my book. He asked if I’d done the illustrations (yes) and when I showed him the one of him being blown up said, ‘Yes, it was just like that.’ Since the drawing was done entirely from imagination it was quite a compliment – though maybe he was just being nice. He is a nice guy actually and seems to have a genuine affection for his fans, hugging both men and women indiscriminately both on stage and off. Normally I would be put off by that but it seems genuine.
One thing that struck me last night (brilliantly supported by Chip Dolan on piano, along with Betty Soo, vocals, and Doug Cox on dobro guitar) was the poetry of his songs. No great guitarist or singer, the power of his material is in the evocative words. Looking at the beautifully stark photos on his website (which Sam took himself) one gets an inkling into the vision captured in the songs – superficially light and picturesque but with deeper strains of menace or tragedy. On stage his banter is often easy-going and jokey, but the content of the songs can be dark and twisted, though ultimately hopeful.
It’s obviously impossible to say what effect the horrific injuries and subsequent medical problems suffered from being a victim of a terrorist bomb in the late Eighties, but one suspects it’s these experiences which have been the main influence and given him a unique view. His vocal delivery, somewhat sparse and stacato, was, he says, the result of memory loss following brain injuries. Last night none of that was mentioned, nor did he sing Broken Fingers in which he refers to it obliquely, but he must get bored with talking about it. Nevertheless, even if you didn’t know, most people would guess he’s seen some hard times. He even includes the old Stephen Foster number ‘Hard Times’ in the introduction to Odessa, a song describing the fate of a spoilt oil baron’s son who kills his girlfriend drive a Corvette too fast – though daddy’s money ‘made the lawyers go away’.
Anyway, I hope he likes my book. Sam’s story is included as an important inspiration to me, and I meant it. He overcame many difficulties to recover from his injuries and still fulfill his musical ambitions. If he can do it?