Barker Thompson
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Backstory
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Sam (Barker) Thompson is a St. Louis based musician. His recordings are laced with tight harmonies, multiple acoustic instruments, and light percussion. Listening to his music, you could imagine a scenario of Paul Simon and Taj Mahal having a really cool, low-key band, and then getting together, and recording an album with Willie Nelson, Todd Snider, and Son Volt. For the last 20 years Sam has been playing live, in bands, and solo as well, throughout the St. Louis area. In 2019, he won 1st place in the John Hartford Memorial Songwriter’s Challenge. As front man for Hobo Alliance, he had the unique opportunity to open for Pokey Lafarge, Scott H. Biram, Black Diamond Heavies, Wiyos, Centro-Matic, and Bobby Bare Jr. Lately, he has been moving toward a more complex and complete sound, incorporating keyboard, drums, and sometimes a loop machine.
Sam (Barker) Thompson was born and raised in Jackson, Missouri. After working construction, and various odd jobs, he moved up to the "big city" of Saint Louis at the age of 19. After figuring out the life of pizza delivery and bell-hopping wasn't for him, he attended a Recording Workshop in Ohio to learn how to be a recording tech, but got into live sound instead. The last three decades Sam has worked, played, and invested his time and energy into music. His hope is to bring a smile, or nod of understanding, to those that take the time to listen, and feel, his music. His gentle blues, mixed with the soul of his Southern Missouri roots, twisted in with braids of electronica welcome the listeners into his life of joy & pain (pump it up now, ya'll). Sam has lived with spondylolisthesis his entire life, a degenerative condition of the spine, causing vertebra to slip out of place randomly, and can be extremely painful, but after sustaining a back injury, his health sure did take a wicked twist. A botched surgery left him with significant health issues that now consume a large portion of his time and energy. Although he has many hardships in his life, he doesn't let it affect his day to day outlook. Everyone has had to go through something difficult, and we can share our experiences, and the dirt we all stand on, if we care to. Please help us bring more heart felt smiles, to not only the Saint Louis area, but possibly worldwide. Maybe, just maybe, we can bring a little more light into the world.
