Sam Winch

“Elevated via eccentric vocals and dynamic arrangements into an apparent gene-splice of Closing Time Tom Waits with Transformer Lou Reed, as backed by members of the Band and Lambchop” - Houston Press

“One of the year’s sweetest, weirdest debuts… With a pointillist’s eye for detail Winch learned early on that it’s not just the story you have to tell; it’s how you tell it that counts."
--Allison Stewart - No Depression

“A weathered croon like John Prine, a vivid storytelling acumen reminiscent of Tom Waits and the compositional girth of early Randy Newman…” - Under The Radar

"This is super good. This singer/sonngwriter/weird music crafter guy is dramatic, funny, brilliant and strange." - Rocktober

Even before I saw Sam Winch's website I had picked up on his circus/carney theme and sound. It wasn't hard since the second song on his debut disc, The Lullabadeer, drops as many circus references as any song in recent memory. The website with it's big top theme confirms it.

I'm not sure what to believe in Sam's bio as he claims to have been lost for a week when he was 9 only to be found at the circus (I'm guessing that's not true), it also says he took a hammer blow to the head to protect a baby (I'm not sure about that one either), and it goes on to say that this record is up for the Nobel Prize (improbable but deserving).



If Tom Waits still had a sense of humor, would stop suing everybody and singing through megaphone he might just put out a record of this caliber. If Jack Johnson would wake up and snap out of his perpetual stoner-surfer-dude stupor, on his best day he might be able to match the energy and dynamic swings of The Lullabadeer. If Paul Simon could drag himself off of the Broadway stage he might be able to recreate the magic of his hit "Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard" but for now Sam Winch's "Julio" will have to do.
- SongsIllinois

Sam Winch was born in a bowling alley. That's about the only information I have for him, and perhaps, it is untrue! Perhaps it's all true, I don't really care, because trawling through various records by artists who have very kindly sent me their CDs, I came across Sam Winch and immediately it struck me as being striking and different. I liked the acoustic guitar and I loved his voice. The title track perhaps showcases it best.
A country influenced track, his voice coming across as Dylan/Springsteen/Humourous. This is kind of funny music, in a laugh out loud way. Sam Winch sounds like Lou Reed, with a sense of humour, transported to Nashville. It's quite something! It's weird circus music, it's weird, funny inventive lyrics and it's different. That last word is something I look for endlessly amongst the procession of artists and bands all sounding the same as each other. Ah, 'Graduation Day' has this quiet delicate piano going through it, a trumpet popping up quite delectably at one point and a vocal of nuanced calm and story-telling. I love it, absolutely adore it, and is Sam Winch in the Billboard Top 200? No, but he should be! In a parallel universe, with people who have good taste in music ruling what's in the charts, 'Graduation Day' would be a big hit all through the year.

Oh my god, the noisy circus rock n roll country of 'OneTwoThree' sounds like Lou Reed with a poker up his arse and a dead Gram Parsons sharing eight whiskeys with him whilst they both proceed to have a hell of a fun time. That's a strange description of anything. I realise that, so the best thing might be to track this CD down. I'm not a PR person or advertising anything, just this stuff is genuinely funny, happy grin inducing stuff! Then, other songs have depth and appear to be emotionally affecting in another kind of way. Good stuff all round. Hooray! Oh, I dig the outrageous backing vocals that are present throughout a number of songs, really off the wall yet still coming in some fine fashion. This album is fun, it's such good fun. I like it lots.
- Adrian Denning