Author Archives: Amber
Mix Tape Monday — Samantha Crain
presents…
Samantha Crain
Photo by Todd Roeth
I picked today’s artist for a couple of reasons. First, she is a fellow Okie, which makes me feel like we are kindred spirits, and secondly, she has an amazing voice. I mean it. Really amazeballs! So folksy and earthy sounding. Me likey a lot.
Samantha is one of those artists that is just really on the cusp of breaking it big. I’m actually embarrassed I haven’t gotten a chance to see her live since she plays in Oklahoma, oh, all the time. One of these days, it’s gonna work out, but until then, I’m gonna have to love her from afar. The fact that I live about 30 miles from her can be considered afar, right?
Earlier this year, she was even picked by Spin Magazine as an artist to watch! Spin described Crain:
“23-year-old singer-songwriter’s work is taken straight from the heartland, mixing rural love stories (“Traipsing Through the Aisles”) with laments to the Lord (“The River”), all backed by the subtly-crafted folk of her band, the Midnight Shivers. Her confident storytelling belies her young age.”
Please to be loving her with me…
Oh, and this video too!! LOVE!
And like all good artists, Samantha has her tunes available on iTunes and on Amazon! She has a really excellent website with tunes streaming and, of course, a MySpace page.
Plus, if you are REALLY in love with her (like me!), you can vote for her in the NAMMYs (Native American Music Awards) www.nativeamericanmusicawards.com (She is in the Debut Artist, Best Folk Recording, and Songwriter of the Year categories).
Sam’s Got an EP Coming, And I Write an Awkward Letter
Dear Sam,
Have I told you lately that I like writing letters to you? Cause I do.
So, anywho, saw your “official” announcement about the EP, and well, I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you that I am just a wee bit excited. I mean, almost as excited as I was 3 days ago when we heard it from MV Remix Rock, but whatevs. This is your moment. I’ll let you have it.
Zuni, huh? I thought maybe I was a really bad fangirl and totally missed what this meant. Maybe you announced it during your show in LA (you know, the one I was kind of inebriated at) and I just didn’t remember. But others are asking, so you should go on ahead and explain it for us. And if you could, go ahead and do it on here or on Twitter. That would save me from the awkward questioning at the meet & greet at your show in Dallas.
Okay, I’m lying. There is still going to be awkward questioning. Remember when I asked why you were “Serious Sam” in your poster? Yeah. Me too… sort of. Well, now I need to know. What is the deal with “Angry Sam”?
"I'm angry... and perhaps slightly turned on." (C'mon, the angle SO makes it look like he's playing with his nipples!)
Yeah, I just went there. Deal with it… and LOVE it!
Then I went to perusing the track list, which was not in your official announcement, and… I love it. Almost all new songs with just a couple of the old. You out did yourself my friend. Kudos.
‘ZUNI’ Track Listing
1. Lights
2. Scared
3. Details
4. Wide Open
5. No One and Me
6. Passport (remastered)
7. It Begins (remastered)
8. Sea Blue (remastered)
But my favorite part… MY FAVORITE PART, is this quote from the non-official announcement:
“It’s very important that the live show be raw and honest. Capturing the honesty in the studio was done by getting drunk and not eating.”
Just knowing that you are drunk and starving while singing every song on the album, well, that just does it. Plus, it makes me feel less bad about all my drunken shenanigans at your show. I was just trying to be honest to the music, that’s all! But see, we differ. Cause Amber’s gotta eat. Give me some cheese fries and ice cold Bud Light and I am in heaven!
Long story short, I am excited. I will be buying one of your physical copies whilst in D-Town. And I’m sure I will love it!
All my love (and a platter of cheese fries),
Amber
P.S. Did you know that ONE LUCKY READER will win a Sam Bradley keychain with a code to download your 1st EP?! It’s true! All they have to do is follow us on Twitter and then leave a comment on this post! Easy peasy! Spread the word!
And the Winners Are…. (Plus Deets on THIS Week’s Giveaway!)
Yeah, so we were a little slow to get to this today (oops!), but hey, better late then never, right? First things first, last week we announced the first giveaway of our “We Blame Brooke Fraser Giveaway Tour.” Lots of you entered, most of you thought it was for the tickets (which we aren’t giving away till the END of the tour), but I digress. Two of you lucky ladies won autographed Sam Bradley posters, courtesy of LiLi and I.
And the winners are….
SARA
&
SHAY
Yay!! Exciting!
Here is what you 2 girls need to do…
Email LiLi and I at shackofsoul@hotmail.com with your names and addresses. One of you will get a poster from me. And one from LiLi. Each one of them is signed by Sam Bradley himself! And I’m pretty sure he breathed on them too, you know, if you like that kind of thing like I do.
Exciting, huh?
And now, I pass the torch on to LiLi who is gonna tell you what’s going down in the Tour this week…
LiLi here– ps why do I feel like we just tagged in a tag team match. Amber, we are totes the Von Erichs. HOLLA!
Anyhoo, it’s time to talk about about more free stuff!
Up for grabs this week:
one Sam Bradley Keychain
Now, this ain’t no ordinary keychain. Each dogtag style keychain has a code printed on it so you can download Sam’s EP, which he released last year. I remember when this all went down too. Sam tweeted that a limited number of these keychains would be available so to get them while you could. Of course, Amber and I were like, uh, we ARE going to get one of those. Sure enough, we did get our hot little hands on some during a certain conference that shall not be named. Which coincidently, is the first time that I met ol’ Mr. Bradley. And of course, I word vommed all over him. I know he doesn’t remember as that day was all crazy with peeps but I sure do. I alluded to the fact that Sam was kinda like a hooker.
::facepalm::
Shocking, I know.
Which is why, if you ever meet me at a show, I am usually mute.
Back to the task at hand now– how to win one of these amazeball keychains. First, go to the sidebar over there on the right– see that?? Clicky on the twitter icon and go follow @ShackofSoul. Already a follower?? Perf. You are all set. Now, second, leave us a comment in the comment section with your twitter name and a story of how you facepalmed when you met someone you liked. It can be about a time you met the guys or something else completely. Winner will be chosen at random and announced next Tuesday. You have until Sunday, October 24th @ 11:59 central time to enter. Good Luck!!
Remember, this is for the KEYCHAIN album only this week. Tickets will be given away in November. Check out our contest page for all the rules and regs and stuff. Still cornfused?? Shoot us an email or tweet us!
The One Where I Recall Sam’s “Last Man Standing” Crown
For you Shack of Soul newbies, a long time ago we had this really scientific poll on which of the guys could last the longest in drinking. We deemed it “the last man standing” and everyone, including Sam himself, loved it and voted. And Sam won… decidingly. I mean, it was no contest. Of course, the fact that he tweeted it out to his followers probably was in his favor. But I digress…
Poor Marcus came in last. I really thought it was a shame. Surely Marcus could hold his liquor better then that, right? I even asked Sam, who said “I know, I know I’d definitely beat Marcus.” WHAT?!? Say it ain’t so Marcus!!
Well, after this picture Sam posted, I’m gonna have to go on and say it. I’m removing the crown from Sam and giving it to Marcus. Cause Sam, you are looking WAY more hungover then Marcus. There. I said it.
ohaithere hungover boys!
And the accompanying tweet…
I call liar, liar, pants on fire!!
Maybe Sam was referring to himself as the hungover one. I call shenanigans on you Sam!! Marcus can handle his own, I can tell. As an experienced drunk, I know what hungover looks like. And if Marcus is hungover, he is handling it well. Much better then me, that’s for sure.
No worries Sam AKA Mr. Drunky McDrunkerton, I get it. But just own up. Marcus wins, doesn’t he?
Yep. That’s what I thought.
The OFFICIAL “We Blame Brooke Fraser” Giveaway Tour — Week 1
There are a lot of #sadpanda peeps out there. Sam Bradley is touring the U.S. and so many of our fellow fangirls got sold out. This makes us sad too. But you all are not allowed to be so sad anymore. Why? Cause we have kind of a kick ass announcement….
HOLLA! Since Brooke Fraser caused so many of y’all to be sad, we figured it was time to do some giving away of some fun stuff. And I mean it. This stuff is kind of the bomb diggity. (Yes, I’m bringing bomb diggity back. Join me.) And hence the name. We blame her for making us have this awesome contest! Kudos to Brooke’s awesomeness that leads to you all getting fun goodies!
Here’s what’s gonna happen….
For the next FOUR weeks, we are going to be giving away goodies from both Sam AND Brooke… with a grand prize that may really make someone’s day!
Soooooooo, what are the prizes you ask?
This week (week of 10/11), we are giving away not one, but TWO signed posters of Sam Bradley! Courtesy of LiLi and I who have way too much crap stuff signed by Sam and decided we should share! And trust me. This is difficult cause I do not like to share. Blame Brooke for my change of heart.
Next week (week of 10/18), we are giving away one of those kick ass Sam Bradley key chains we all went crazy for last year. The best thing about the keychain? You get a code to download Sam’s EP! Really awesome prize for any of you late to the Sam Bradley party! This gift was provided by the amazingly awesome EYES OF AMBER! We <3 her!
On the week of 10/23, we’ve got something super special! TWO posters of Sam Bradley signed by not only Sam, but also The Men, Version 1.0. I call this one a collector’s item, since we have the signature of the now gone man, Dave. :tips one out for Dave: These are also from EYES OF AMBER, cause she loves us!
And for our grand prize…. :insert drumroll:
TWO TICKETS TO THE SOLD OUT BROOKE FRASER SHOW IN DALLAS ON 11/12!!
We hear Sam will be there, too! 
As well as LiLi and I. We may even buy ya a beer if you ask us nicely!
[LiLi edit: er...Amber will be buying the beers. I plan on being drunk. duh.]
AND included in this is Brooke’s new CD, Flags!
Can this BE anymore win?!
So now you are asking yourself this… how do I get to be a part of this business?! Well, it’s easy peasy!
Each week is a different giveaway. We will post the giveaway on Tuesday for you to enter. All you have to do is leave a comment on the giveaway post (like this one for the Week 1 giveaway) AND make sure you are following us on Twitter by Sunday at 12 a.m. central time! You must do both to enter, so be sure to let us know your Twitter name in the comment!!
On Monday, once LiLi and I manage to roll outta bed, get to work and get to business, we will use one of those awesome random tweeter generators to pull a follower name and then check for a comment from that follower. No comment? No win! We move on till we get the one!
You must reenter the contest each Tuesday, but you can only win one of the Week 1-3 prizes. But EVERYONE is eligible for the grand prize, regardless if you won any previous prizes.
The contest is open to anyone, U.S. or international alike. However, please don’t enter to win the tickets if you can’t make it to the show in Dallas. Cause that is just not cool! And we’ll be there, so we’ll know.
So are you ready to win some prizes?! Then leave a comment below and enter THIS WEEK’S giveaway for an autographed Sam poster! Be sure to leave your Twitter anem, too!!
Amber
Li Li
