Sam Baker at State Theatre
The State Theatre presents
Sam Baker
The State Theatre
Friday, January 22, 2027
Doors: 7pm
Show: 8pm
Sam Baker is a West Texas songwriter, lyric writer, and visual artist whose work is animated by a singular attention to the forgotten people of everyday life — the ditch digger, the Mennonite welder, the widow who keeps returning to the beach. His songs are sparse, unhurried, and precise, built from the same literary impulses as his influences: Faulkner, Hemingway, Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark.
Baker came to music by way of survival. In 1986, while traveling by train to Machu Picchu in Peru, a bomb planted by the Shining Path guerrilla group exploded in his compartment. Six people were killed; Baker survived with catastrophic injuries — brain damage, a severed artery, destroyed hearing, hands permanently altered by skin grafts. He endured 17 reconstructive surgeries. As part of his recovery, he taught himself to play guitar left-handed, turned upside down, with gnarled fingers. Writing helped him relearn language he had lost. The first true line he wrote was the first line of his first song.
His debut album Mercy arrived in 2004. Seven albums followed, including Say Grace, named by Rolling Stone as one of the top 10 country albums of 2013, and 2026’s Survivor, produced by Rodney Crowell and released by Crowell’s RC1 Records in collaboration with the Guy Clark Family Foundation’s Truly Handmade Records. He has performed with symphony orchestras, in listening rooms in The Netherlands, in art galleries in Santa Fe, and at songwriter retreats for combat veterans. He sat for an hour with Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air. The Wall Street Journal called him "The Bard of the Workaday World." Lone Star Music named him "maybe the most captivating songwriter in America." Baker is also a painter. He lives in Austin and writes every day.
Sam Baker
The State Theatre
Friday, January 22, 2027
Doors: 7pm
Show: 8pm
Sam Baker is a West Texas songwriter, lyric writer, and visual artist whose work is animated by a singular attention to the forgotten people of everyday life — the ditch digger, the Mennonite welder, the widow who keeps returning to the beach. His songs are sparse, unhurried, and precise, built from the same literary impulses as his influences: Faulkner, Hemingway, Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark.
Baker came to music by way of survival. In 1986, while traveling by train to Machu Picchu in Peru, a bomb planted by the Shining Path guerrilla group exploded in his compartment. Six people were killed; Baker survived with catastrophic injuries — brain damage, a severed artery, destroyed hearing, hands permanently altered by skin grafts. He endured 17 reconstructive surgeries. As part of his recovery, he taught himself to play guitar left-handed, turned upside down, with gnarled fingers. Writing helped him relearn language he had lost. The first true line he wrote was the first line of his first song.
His debut album Mercy arrived in 2004. Seven albums followed, including Say Grace, named by Rolling Stone as one of the top 10 country albums of 2013, and 2026’s Survivor, produced by Rodney Crowell and released by Crowell’s RC1 Records in collaboration with the Guy Clark Family Foundation’s Truly Handmade Records. He has performed with symphony orchestras, in listening rooms in The Netherlands, in art galleries in Santa Fe, and at songwriter retreats for combat veterans. He sat for an hour with Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air. The Wall Street Journal called him "The Bard of the Workaday World." Lone Star Music named him "maybe the most captivating songwriter in America." Baker is also a painter. He lives in Austin and writes every day.
Where is it happening?
Stateside at the Paramount, 713 Congress Ave,Austin,TX,United States
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherParamount Theatre
