Clickity - click to go to Sam's site!

Sam rolls out his new site, and it is stellar!

Okay, I know you think I am just saying that because it’s Sam and because I’m fangirling a bit over our site being included on the links page (well it is!). But hey, I like to think I’m a straight shooter. And I got this fancy degree in marketing and public relations so I’m full of credibility.

But seriously, it’s a great site. It’s clean, easy to navigate and even strives to get you, the fans, involved.

Like most music sites, it has the typical news, tour dates, biography, etc. But delve inside and it’s way more then an average music site.

First off, I went to check the photos section (duh!) and not only are there the typical promo shots, but also a Fan photo section. Basically, we can all submit our photos of Sam or with Sam and they will be posted in their own album on the site. Kind of like bringing Facebook to the website. It’s really a great idea. And I may or may not have already submitted mine!

They’ve also done the same thing for videos, so get over to the video page and submit your best Sam video there, too. Holding that camera still while telling all your girlfriends to shush while Sam plays has finally paid off for you! (But not you GarnetGurl. You can not submit your video. You know why.)

Another great feature: Ask Sam! Do you have a burning question you’d like to ask Sam? Maybe you clammed up when you met Sam and forgot to talk to him (::cough::LiLi::cough::)? The best questions will get answered and posted for all to see. All I ask everyone is too stay cool with the questions. Actually, all of my readers know this already, but geez I hope other people can follow that rule. You know the rules of our blog? Yeah, they should apply to Ask Sam too.

So Sam, kudos to you and your team for putting together a top notch site. The wait was well worth it! (And thanks for linking to us! We love you so much for that!)

We’ve been talking and hinting and chatting about some big things going down on our site today, and guess what? The wait is over. We are happy to introduce to our newest series:

This week’s artist is British, and hot, and has great hair! Introducing you to…

Greg Holden

On Tour Now with Ingrid Michaelson
“Sing for the City” Available on iTunes September 22

UK singer/songwriter Greg Holden’s self-released debut CD ”A Word In Edgeways” was immediately featured on iTunes as one of “Today’s Best Singer/Songwriters” just one week after its release.  Now this emotive and awe-inspiring artist is gearing up for his highly anticipated sophomore release, “Sing for the City” – available on iTunes September 22nd.  Much of the music, including the lead track “You’re Scaring Me”, was inspired by Greg’s first time experiences performing in New York.

Just 10 weeks after launching his “Living Room Series” on YouTube, this ambitious live musician was the featured Spotlight Artist.  Since then, he has been YouTube’s Spotlight Artist 3 times with more than 800,000 + plays.

Greg has shared the stage with acts such as Idlewild, Turin Brakes, The Subways and Ben Griffiths.  He is currently on tour in the U.S. with Ingrid Michaelson and will wrap with a solo performance at Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles on October 9th.

For tour dates or to sample Greg Holden’s music please visit www.myspace.com/gregholden or www.youtube.com/gdholden to see footage from his ”Living Room Series” or catch other live performances.

Here are just a couple of our favorite videos of Greg from his Youtube page!

We LOVE this one cause you got tour highlights as well as just silly tour antics, all set to a really amazing song!

And here is Greg’s latest release, You’re Scaring Me. Great song!!

Also, be sure to follow Greg on Twitter. He’s got the tweeting thing down and is worth the follow for sure!! I know we’ll be following him!

New Music Mondays is a collaboration between SamAm Global, Shack of Soul. MyRobertPattinson and Eyes of Amber. Please be sure to visit their sites as well for other great music!

First, let’s start with Bobby. We got a new blog up on his MySpace overnight:

Friday, September 04, 2009

leonard cohen is my uncle

just wanted to say sorry for the lack of updates. will get on it asap and fill you all in next week, especially as my myspace is my most important site.
canada is beautiful and hopefully gonna put a few new live tracks up from boston asap.
thanks for coming to the shows,
having a good time cant wait to write some more songs.
all the best,

from toronto,

bobby

Personally, we are just so happy the Canadians finally let you into their country. I thought as I was gonna have to go up there and have a talk with them about this.*cracks knuckles* Beware, I am scrappy!

Most importantly, this little update included the posting of SEVERAL new tour dates. Woo hoo!! Go see which show you are going to over on our Bobby Long Tour Dates page. And if you are going to the Dallas show, you may even meet me and LiLi. Try to meet us early in the night. Things get a little fuzzy over time…

And then there is Sam, the newest Shack of Soul fan! That little trickster went and posted an AMAZING new video with himself and Stone Jack Jones signing Lost Highway and didn’t tell anybody!

It is very moving and you all do not want to miss this!

Be sure to subscribe to Sam’s YouTube page so you never miss an update from him!

Lots of good stuff this morning. It only leaves me with one question. Marcus! Where are you?!? We miss you and need some good news from you soon!!

I can’t say it any better then her:

Sam Bradley is a man of contradictions, humble and confident at the same time. And his self-titled EP is a showcase of how a cacophony of sounds and sentiments can, in fact, be soothing and melodic.

Bradley’s voice is certainly the focus of the EP, which is available at www.sambradley.com for $10. It rings clear, strong and smooth on all of the tracks, sensual and silky in places and rough and raw with emotion in others. And I like that there are times when his British accent sneaks into the melody.

The music that accompanies Bradley’s lyrics is just that — an accompaniment. It stands firmly on its own but never competes with what’s being said. Instead, it serves as a solid background for the words and phrases.

Once again, listeners can feel Bradley’s contradictions in the beat. Some songs have a distinct jazz vibe while others are pure rock ‘n’ roll. Some are completely laid back and relaxed while others have a frenzied, almost chaotic, sound. But the combination never feels erratic. There is a natural, acoustic feel that grounds the album despite the fact that it is far from simply Bradley and his guitar. Even the heaviest of the songs don’t feel drowned out by the music.

That allows listeners to truly hear the lyrics. And with a gifted songwriter like Bradley, you want to know what’s being said. He tells stories in his songs, putting sound to his poetic and often intriguing phrases. They are full of observations on life and love and everything in between.

You can read the entire review right here!

If you have not bought the EP yet, I’m not sure what you are waiting for! Sam needs your $10 to eat, so go. Seriously. Go right now and buy it! We make it all too easy by giving you the link right here!

Enjoy!

Source

Pic Courtesy of Katie Howerton

With less then 3 days till Sam’s big EP release, he is dropping all kinds of good news on us from every direction via Twitter!

For my Canadian friends, two, yes TWO new shows for you. Sam will be at the Metro Theatre in Victoria, British Columbia on September 24 at 8 p.m. The show will be all ages and is part of the Rifflandia Music Festival. Check out Rifflandia’s site for more information and how to purchase tickets. It looks to me like the show is only available as part of the festival package for $60. But if you are into music, that is a pretty good deal considering all the shows you’ll get in addition to Sam!

The very next day, September 25, Sam will be in Vancouver at the Venue. The show starts at 7 p.m. and tickets are $15. There is no information that I can find about WHERE to buy tickets, as the show is not up on the Venue’s website yet, but I will keep an eye out for it and post it when it’s available!

Updated!

Order your tickets online!

More Sam news and such after the jump!

Sam (or most likely his people) are working hard on Sam’s new website as well. It will be http://www.sambradley.com/ and it is still a work in progress. But for those of you who need to get Sam’s EP on Saturday (which is ALL of you), you should go ahead and just bookmark the site. I know I did!

There is also a new review of Sam’s Secret Show from the Examiner! It’s a really well written and very descriptive review (which you know how I LOVE description). Here is just a little excerpt that I enjoyed most:

Sam started the show out with the song “Come On In” and you could see that he was happy and “at home” on the stage. In between every song, Sam pulls in his audience with some heartfelt words and stories, but the true testament was in his vocal and stage performance.

Sam most definitely feeds off of his audience throughout his entire show, and his audience feeds off of him. It is a relationship that many singers will never get to experience, but somehow Sam seems to have mastered it, and tonight he seems to have brought this skill to a new level. With Sam, you have always been able to feel the emotions of a song, both lyrically and physically, you can tell exactly what emotions he was feeling when he wrote the song, but, there was more to it tonight. Whether it was because he has found that magic that allows him to connect so much with his audience or something else, the power of his performance was simply amazing.

The “love” songs he sings emit feelings of love that only exist in dreams. It is obvious that he has put his heart and soul into these songs, and the effect that he creates when singing them, causes ripples of possibilities and hope to run through the air.

*sigh* This is why you must see Sam live if you’ve never had the chance. You just “get it” so much more! Here is the rest of the article.

And, if you feel the need to really connect with Sam (and who doesn’t!), he shared with us his song of the day: My Body is a Cage by Arcade Fire. It’s pretty deep.

Still here? Good. We will have another big announcement from our blog later today regarding Sam and his upcoming birthday/EP release! Be sure that you are following me (Amber) and LiLi on Twitter so you won’t miss out on it! Trust me, it’s gonna be good!

And then…

So while all of U.S. folks are sad to see him go, I am personally excited for the opportunity for some new tracks, and live ones at that! He does promise a return just in time for the holidays (and what a great Christmas present Marcus tickets would be, right?), and we will post new tour dates as they come up!

If you are not following Marcus on Twitter, what are you waiting for? Do it now by clicking on his Twitter link in the links menu!

Marcus, Bobby & Sam

Welcome to the newly created Shack of Soul, a fan site for the fans, by the fans of Bobby Long, Marcus Foster and Sam Bradley. Our idea came after we went to see the guys in Dallas for the first time. We both fell in love and realized these guys needed a fan site where fans could come and just have fun and learn more about the guys. And we want you all to be just as involved. We want to post your pictures, your videos and your stories about the guys!

This site is also meant to be a Twilight/Rob Pattinson light zone. That means that unless there is a direct correlation between the guys and Twi/Rob, then we will not report things like “Rob’s BFF says…” or “Twilight artists…” But, if Rob jumps up on stage to do a duet with Marcus, then we’ll definitely cover that!

We are going to start our new blog with our own introductions and fan encounters, right after the jump!

Meet Amber

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Amber and I run another blog (Rob My World). I’ve been talking up Sam and Bobby a little bit on my other blog, but when I went to Dallas I was a changed woman. I went to the Friday night show with Marcus and Bobby, as well as the Saturday all-niter will all three of the guys!

When Marcus first came on that stage, for the first time in the U.S., and started to sing, I thought I was going to die. His voice was so soulful and full of emotion. It was something that I had a hard time feeling when I listened to his MySpace page but that I truly “got” while he stood in front of us and crooned. This is how bad it was, Sam was in the audience watching and I didn’t care. There was nothing else in the world other than Marcus and that guitar!

Then Bobby came on and won me over with his emotion, the amazing faces he made while he sung, the hair, EVERYTHING! I had never really been to a small gig like that where you had so much personal interaction, and I felt that with Bobby. When he was singing, it felt like he was just singing to me and no one else. It was AMAZING!

The next night was the first time I saw Sam live and that man has a stage presence that cannot be beat. He comes off like the seasoned pro and plays fan favorites in addition to his own songs. Sam had me won over before I saw him live, but  after seeing him in person I just couldn’t get over how really great he was.

Meeting all of the guys was another great treat! They are truly appreciative and seem willing to do anything for their fans. They stayed out in the rain to sign autographs and take pictures. They waited around till 4 a.m. to make sure everyone got to meet them. I just couldn’t believe that these guys were not only such amazing performers, but that they were humble, sweet and in Marcus’ case, even nervous.

I came home and decided that blogging about them on a Rob-related site seemed unfair to the guys. They are trying to separate themselves from Twi/Rob, and it’s understandable why. And I want to help that processing by separating my own love for them and placing it all in a Twi/Rob light zone. So, here we are!

Meet LiLi

Coming from Austin, I can safely say that I have seen hundreds of shows in my life.  And I while I am no music expert, I do know what I like and what I don’t.  Usually I tend to veer towards the heavier stuff– I like it loud, hard and fast (that’s what she said).  So it’s pretty rare that I get into many singer/songwriters, but when I do I become fiercely loyal.

All three together-- *died*

That is exactly what occured the first time I heard a Bobby Long track.  I was hooked from that first note.  Which of course, after many You Tube searches and Myspace listens, his music led me to Marcus Foster and Sam Bradley. Naturally, I was pretty stoked when all three were in Dallas the first weekend in August and a group of us went to see them play at Poor David’s Pub.

The first night was only Bobby and Marcus and the second had all three of them playing.  Both shows were seriously two of the best that I had seen in a long time.  All three played solo, only their voice and guitar and yet all three were so completely different in style and sound.

Soulful– that’s the only way to describe Bobby.  He sang from deep within and there were moments when he was so completely immersed in a song that I felt like an intruder spying on something private.

Marcus, who incidently played his first ever American show that first night, was just incredibly raw and powerful.  He would get so lost in his performance that he would just take off and riff.  That to me is the beauty of seeing live music.  Watching an artist take his own song and change it up in the heat of the moment because he feels it and that is where it takes him– and Marcus does it beautifully.

And of course there is Sam, who (shhh, don’t tell the others) was the one I was dying to hear the most.  He did not disappoint.  There is one word to describe watching Sam on stage– electric.  As soon as he grabs that mic and begins, he just owns you.  He stage presence and interactions with the crowd are magnetic.  You can’t take your eyes off him.

But it doesn’t end there people.  These guys, who have been on the road and had a full weekend of commitments aside from Poor David’s Pub, were so generous with their time before, during and after shows.  They stood and visited with fans until the last person in line was gone.  All three were nothing but gracious to everyone and took the time to sign endless items and take dozens of pictures up until 4am on the last night.

It is artists like these that I feel like we should be supporting.  Those who are working hard, making good music and never forgetting to take time for their fans.  That is why I am excited to start this new site with Amber.  I just want others out there to discover, learn and enjoy the music of these guys.  So, stop by often and let us know what you think.  Or even better, share with us your pics/vids/stories of seeing Sam, Marcus and Bobby live.  The more the merrier!

Image courtesy of Krazy_Kidd