About Sam Payne
Sam Payne comes from a family of singer/songwriters. Her mum, Corrie Palmer and aunt, Carole Palmer both play guitar, sing and write songs. They had Sam playing in various roots and folk clubs around Birmingham from the age of 15. Tom Martin ran various acoustic roots clubs, and would put the family on.
At 15, Sam played at Burnley Blues Festival, where she jammed with Lucky Lopez Evans and Buddy Guy on main stage. Steeped in folk, blues, soul, jazz and some classical music, Sam has had an eclectic career working as a live performer, solo and with various trios and bands.
A trip to Brazil, when Sam was 18, opened her eyes to a world of extreme poverty and corruption, but also to a melting pot of musical ideas from the rhythms of Bahia…samba, maracatu, and salsa….
When Sam moved to Leeds, Yorkshire for a publishing/record/management deal, she worked closely with hip hop and dub producer Skip McDonald from Ohio, USA. He worked as a producer for Adrian Sherwoods label, On U Sound. Sam learned many studio techniques and how to record and mix.
Sam has always been encouraged and moved by Tom Martin’s music and troubadour spirit. Her recent collaboration with Tom and his son Jon, on ‘Two Lives’ is a huge thank you for putting Sam on, in her early days. In Tom’s roots clubs, Sam could play anything she liked from singer/songwriter to blues, to jazz to folk. Tom’s acoustic clubs were an oasis in a vastly growing, cultural desert. A taste of what freedom should be!