Sam Lewis

Imagine a spontaneous summer road trip to the beach. You’re driving, and your sweetheart’s bare feet are resting up on the dash. The windows are down, drowning out the sound of the stereo. So you turn up the music: “Honey oh please/ Just stay with me/ Honey oh please/ Way down on my knees/ You mustn’t leave yet/ Wait till the sun set/ You mustn’t leave yet/ No you ain’t gotta get, Sam Lewis sings on “Come On Away.” His voice, like a whisper-smoky and resonating-seems driven by a quiet, persistent desire, as though he wants more of something he already has. You get it; there is something real and timeless in Lewis’ folk-blues that’s easy to connect with. It’s impassioned, though effortless, like being in love with a moment, that moment when everything converges naturally to create the perfect minute, or hour, or drive to the coast. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leah E. Willis of The Metro Pulse - "Metro Pulse"

He could easily pass for a character in one of his own songs — a small-town boy from North Carolina, apparently destined for a career working in the mills, who discovers the transformative power of music.

A late bloomer when it comes to rock 'n' roll, he discovers Bob Dylan at 18, gets around to listening to Willie Nelson a few years later and is turned on to Van Morrison just last year. Armed with a guitar and a dream, he migrates to East Tennessee and begins pulling himself up the rocky face of the local music scene, one gig at a time.

It would make a great song, but it makes an even better story because it's all true. Sam Lewis is that small-town boy, from Asheboro, N.C., who first came to Knoxville in October 2005.

"At the time, a lot of my friends were graduating from college, but I didn't go," Lewis told The Daily Times this week. "I jumped right into mill work and that kind of stuff; growing up I had a lot of goals and dreams, but like a lot of everybody else's, they got tossed to the side. I always kept my nose clean and kept out of trouble, and I've always been work-oriented; if I had a job, I'd take it serious, whether it's flipping burgers or working in a doctor's office (which is what he does now)."

But at night, when the Piedmont breezes blew down from the mountains to the west, Lewis couldn't help but think that maybe he was meant for something more. He'd had a guitar since he was 12, but when he pulled it out and dusted it off after several years, it hummed in his hands in a way it never had before.

Call it the siren song of music, or the seductive pull of the open road on the heart of a troubadour. Whatever it was, Lewis packed up and headed to Knoxville. He had been dabbling in songwriting for several months, having taught himself to play Dylan tunes and getting into Willie Nelson via the latter's "Live at Billy Bob's" album.

"We started hanging out practically religiously, and I found out about a lot of things through him," Lewis said of his friend. "I discovered Dylan when I was 18 and picked my guitar up and learned some of his songs — easy licks and fun, sing-along songs. We'd play and just have fun and listen to tunes, but that really got the ball rolling as far as what I was missing out on. I mean, I knew who Willie Nelson was, but I had never really listened to him until he game me that album.

"He also gave me a Leon Russell album, and I started listening to this and that and everything in between. We got to the point where, ever night, we were sitting around playing songs, and eventually he said, 'To hell with this; let's write our own songs.' To this day, I don't know if he was serious or not, but I said, 'What the hell; I guess I can be creative.'"

It wasn't long before songs started pouring out of him. He admits he had no idea how the songwriting process worked; he usually started with a good melody and went anywhere from there that his muse took him. Choosing Knoxville was another random stroke of luck — he thought the local music scene would be accommodating, and he was right. At first, he got started locally playing free shows at coffeehouses like The Lost Savant, on Broadway in Knoxville.

"I decided to move in with some friends over here in 2005, mostly because I thought there was a decent little music scene here, and I wanted to get involved," he said. "It was a place to make a fresh start with a clean slate, and when Roger over at The Lost Savant asked me to play, I knew 10 songs by different artists and six of my own that I had written.

"But that was a good place to try stuff out and get used to that sort of thing. I had never played on a PA before, or even in front of people other than my friends. But I started picking up gigs here and there and meeting people. I kept writing songs, and people kept coming."

From there, he springboarded into various open-mic nights (including one stint at Brackins Blues Bar in downtown Maryville, where he sat in with Tuesday night regular Scott McMahan). He got serious about guitar-playing and taught himself to play harmonica as well, and last summer, he took a step back and realized that playing music was where his heart was at.

After making friends with the duo known as Medford's Black Record Collection, Lewis got invited to record in their home studio. He's currently working on his debut album, and has roughly 19 songs recorded for the project.

"The first time I really recorded anything, my main goal was just to get them copyrighted," Lewis said. "But in trying some songs out, they actually turned out pretty good. It went well, and about 11 of those 19 songs were done in one take. These days, it's so easy to make a CD, I just decided to go ahead with it."

His music is straightforward singer-songwriter folk — a guitar, Lewis's world-weary tenor and a batch of songs that show off his influences but are original in their own right. He's still honing his chops and finding his niche, and slowly but surely, he's winning over locals.

It hasn't been easy, but he's been willing to put forth the effort. And most of the time, it pays off.

"This past summer, I picked up a join called Smokey's, over off Broadway near Interstate 640," he said. "I'd say if any place was a place to start really playing, that would be it. That was a hard place — nothing but regulars, and if I wasn't playing, they were all about some AC/DC or some Marshall Tucker, and that stuff's cool. I mean, I grew up on Skynyrd, and I didn't want to play it, because I thought everybody had heard it enough.

"But they really seemed to like me. I played there off-and-on through Dec. 1, and by the end, I was drawing a pretty good crowd. It was just awesome."

-Steve Wildsmith of The Daily Times - The Weekend (The Daily Times)

If you saw Sam Lewis out, you might notice a young dark haired guy in a plaid shirt and boots sitting quietly in the corner watching the people around him, listening to music and enjoying a cold beer. He’s not one to make a scene-unless you catch him on stage. Even then, Lewis has a subtle way of presenting his soulful lyrics.
Sam Lewis wasn’t always a musician. He didn’t really get serious about playing and writing until about three years ago when he stated listening to the music that spoke to him. He was deeply influenced by the styles and lyrics of Leon Russell, Bob Dylan, and Willie Nelson. Writing had been somewhat of an outlet for him, so nearly two years he decided that he, too, could write his own songs.
Lewis moved to Knoxville from Asheboro, NC in the of 2005. Music was not behind the move. He had friend in Knoxville. “I told him that if nothing much was going by fall 2005, I’d move out here. I didn’t have anything holding me back,” says Lewis. In October, he made the move.
“I just kind of became a new person. I’m still me, but when you move and go somewhere else, you can kind of be someone different,” he comments. “I’m not saying I’m a fake, but you try new things.” Before, writing was something he did to get away from reality, and it followed him to Knoxville. As he found himself surrounded by new people and new things to do, he decided to really focus his attention on making music to back up his words.
Lewis considers himself to be more of a songwriter than a performer. “I enjoy the writing more, but you have to perform,” Lewis says. “And there’s nothing cooler than playing your own music and having people tap their feet to it.”
In December of 2005, he saw Scott McMahan, an established local musician, playing at Backroom BBQ. McMahan’s manager, Jimmie Warwick, recalls the night. “Sam came up and asked if he could play a few songs. It was the first time he ever played in Knoxville.” Actually, it was the first time he’d ever performed for strangers ever.
Lewis began performing around town at various places, such as The Lost Savant, a coffee shop in Fountain City. However, he only knew about five songs that weren’t his, which is a big reason why he started writing. “I figured, I don’t know a lot of songs, anyway. So I’ll write my own songs,” he said. Many of his first gigs were at hole in wall bars. “People there didn’t care about his music,” Warwick says. “They were yelling out stuff like, “Play Freebird!” But Sam didn’t care; he just wanted the practice.
As his performing improved, he began playing at open mic nights at places around town, such as Preservation Pub. People started noticing his poignant lyrics and soulful performances. Before long, he was booked at a variety of different venues.
A few months later, Scott McMahan was run over by his own van (yes, he’s okay) on the way to playa show for the WDVX Blue Plate Special. In a pinch to find a replacement , Warwick called up Sam Lewis. “Dude, put your guitar in the car and go o WDVX; you’re going to be on the radio,” Warwick recalls saying.
It was a big deal for Lewis, who still considers himself a “baby in the whole music scene.” He adds, “but it wasn’t just that I got to play on the radio. It was that I had of Knoxville’s best artists saying, ‘Hey man, pull one out for me.”
Now, you can catch Lewis playing gigs all around town at Corner Lounge, Downtown Grill and Brewery, Backroom BBQ, Preservation Pub, and New Knoxville Brewery Co. You will be pleased as you realize that Sam Lewis is not just another guy with a guitar on stage playing overdone covers. Lewis has a story to tell, whether it is about past love, felling “old” or that “Virginia wind.” When asked about his future plans, Lewis says his goal for the year is to record his music, get it copyrighted, put out a CD and try a band. He also wants to keep writing. Does he plan to stick around Knoxville? “Well, I have a lot more stuff I want to say.”
-Caroline Johnson
- Eva Mag

Sam Lewis stays true to his rural North Carolina, mill-working upbringing on his debut album, One's A Long Time, Two's A Fly By . With spare instrumentation and straightforward arrangements, Lewis rolls through 15 tracks of simple vocals, layered with nothing more than acoustic guitar and harmonica.
A thread of Piedmont blues winds its way through each song on the record, tying together the subtle shape-shifting of musical styles. “Three roads to Glory” offers a conversational '60s folk vibe, while “You Can't Breathe, You Can't Shout” sounds more like an unplugged indie rock heartbreak-ballad. And though the title track (and “Virginia Wind” for that matter) perfectly represents the lazy-day, Delta-meets-Appalachia tone of the album as a whole, it's the up-tempo, Bob Dylan -cum- Keb' Mo ' “Sam out of B” that best demonstrates Lewis' flavor and style.
There's a lack of vocal polish throughout that adds warmth and character, rather than detracting from the performance, as though Lewis recorded everything live, maybe in a small dive or someone's home. You can judge for yourself this Saturday, July 14 at Patrick Sullivan's. Lewis' official CD release show begins there around 7 p.m. And though Lewis frequently plays with his full band, The Whipperwills , he'll most likely be flying solo for this show, which seems absolutely right.
— Kevin Crowe, Leah E. Willis - The Metro Pulse - Knoxville, TN

There’s something to that old adage about hard work paying off. Just ask singer-songwriter Sam Lewis.

Lewis, who celebrates the release of his new album “One’s a Long Time, Two’s a Fly By” on Saturday night at Patrick Sullivan’s Saloon in Knoxville’s Old City, had a lot of help in making the album. Sure, the songs are his. But it was a team effort from his fellow East Tennessee artists and musicians that helped the North Carolina boy’s goal of making his first CD come true.

“Medford’s Black Record Collection, Trisha Gene Brady, Amanda Baird — I’ve been really blessed with a lot of good people who come to my shows religiously and want to help me out,” Lewis told The Daily Times this week. “They’re all team players, and they care for everybody else as much as they care for themselves. It’s like the guys in Medford’s — they put on that Americana Jug Train, where they invite a bunch of artists to share the bill.

“By doing that, we get all of our fans together and get them to connect with each other, and it turns into a party. It’s a huge success, and that’s the kind of thing that shows me that these people do care. That’s what I want my CD release party to be — a celebration. That’s why we’re having it early, so people can drop by if they don’t want to stay out late, and it’s a free event. It’s a way for the fans and everybody who’s helped me out to get together and hang out.”

Lewis is a relative newcomer to the East Tennessee music scene, having moved to Knoxville in October 2005 from the small town of Asheboro, N.C. He’d started out from high school working in the local mill, but the call of a new town and a new life were too hard to resist. He’d had a guitar since he was 12, but when he started playing it again after several years, it changed him in some way.

After moving to Knoxville, he put himself to work learning the songs of Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson. Although he’d dabbled in songwriting, it took a while for him to take it seriously, but in Knoxville he found a willing audience and plenty of like-minded musicians with whom he could collaborate.

At first, he got started locally playing free shows at coffeehouses like The Lost Savant, on Broadway in Knoxville. From there, he spring boarded into various open-mic nights (including one stint at Brackins Blues Bar in downtown Maryville, where he sat in with Tuesday night regular Scott McMahan). He got serious about guitar-playing and taught himself to play harmonica as well, and last summer, he took a step back and realized that playing music was where his heart was at.

“I’m a gig whore — I’ll play wherever you’ll let me play, and then I’ll do it some more,” he said. “It’s the experience that makes you better, and that’s half of being a musician. By playing more, the better you get at it. I’m just trying to get my name everywhere. That’s one of my goals — if people haven’t seen me, I would like them to at least have heard of me. That, making a CD and getting a band started — those were my goals for this year.”

The band he’s put together — the Whipperwills — take Lewis’s songs and flesh them out. They can range from simple two-guitar duets to full-on country rock, and it’s a way for Lewis to get his foot in the door at venues that don’t normally book solo acoustic acts.

“With the band, we’re trying to rock a little bit, and I’ve found some really great players,” he said. “We’ve recreated the music, and I think it’s just as good as what I do solo, if not better. Now, it’s hard to play out by myself, because we’ve turned some of them into really fun songs for the whole band.”

In January, he started work on the CD, working in the home studio used by Medford’s member Michael Davis. It’s a stripped-down, mostly acoustic affair that’s an accurate reflection of how he sounds live. His music is straightforward singer-songwriter folk — a guitar, Lewis’s world-weary tenor and a batch of songs that show off his influences but are original in their own right. He’s still honing his chops and finding his niche, and slowly but surely, he’s winning over those who turn out to see him.

“It’s very stripped-down, and when I heard the production, I can hear the foot-tapping on there,” he said. “I can hear the squeak of the guitar straps. It gives a lot of character to it, and that’s what I wanted. When they asked me what I wanted it to sound like, I said I wanted it to sound like, when you put it in the CD player, that you’re at a show.”

The recording studio was one place where Lewis’s inexperience made for a more honest approach to the music. He tackled it in the same way he does a live show, he said — winning over the listeners with one shot. Twelve of the 15 tracks were done in a single take, and the warmth that crackles through the speakers is as genuine and earnest as the man himself.

“I’m my own biggest critic, so when I listen to it, I hear a novice,” he said. “If you want to break it down, a professional musician is someone who plays for a living, and I’m halfway there. That’s really what I want out of it — to keep writing, because that’s the biggest drive for me. Playing comes second, but I do enjoy playing for people, and personally, I feel like it’s getting better. I just want to do all of those things for a living and be able to pay my bills.”

By Steve Wildsmith
of The Daily Times Staff
- The Daily Times - Maryville, TN