Videos by American Songwriter
ARTIST: Carter Sampson
SONG: “Wild Bird”
HOMETOWN: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
CURRENT LOCATION: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
AMBITIONS: To continue to become a better songwriter and performer so I can make people feel something.
TURN-OFFS: Cinnamon and dinosaurs.
TURN-ONS: Sprinkled cake donuts and people who are genuine.
DREAM GIG: Royal Albert Hall
FAVORITE LYRIC: That’s a tricky one because I have several, but “Beauty Way” by Eliza Gilkyson is one I really love.
“I felt the lights on the big, big stages
The fire burning in my soul
I’ve had those nights when my guitar rages
But it’s not something you control little darling
It’s not something you control…
Redtail diving for a rat on Sunset
Coyote picking through the trash
Oh I wish I was lying like a cat in the sun
‘Stead of working like a dog for the cash little darling
I’m only working for the cash…”
SONG I WISH I WROTE: “Graceland” by Paul Simon. Anything Paul has ever written really. He is a master.
5 PEOPLE I’D MOST LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH: Dolly Parton, Elvis, Woody Guthrie, Aretha Franklin and my grandmother Marilyn.
MY FAVORITE CONCERT EXPERIENCE: My favorite listening experience was hearing Bonnie Raitt and John Prine sing “Angel from Montgomery” together in Boston, Massachusetts. It was really the first song I ever learned to play when I was 15, so seeing two of my musical heroes sing it together was magic. My favorite performance experience is winning first place at The Chris Austin Song Contest at Merlefest in 2015 and getting to perform one of the main stages.
I WROTE THIS SONG BECAUSE… I wrote “Wild Bird” when I was in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania working on some recording projects. We were on a break from the studio when I started seeing and hearing things about a major thunderstorm and tornados headed towards my hometown. I was born and raised in Oklahoma and pretty used to tornados and what they bring, but this was really the first time that I had been away from my friends and family when a major storm had hit. It was pretty scary when all I knew was that a lot of people I loved were in the path of something dangerous and there was nothing I could do about it. I stayed up late that night sitting outside of Treelady Studios writing this song and recorded it the next day.
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