ALAMOSA — Everybody seems to know somebody who just happened to catch a performance by some unknown singer-songwriter somewhere that blew them away only to later see that singer-songwriter become famous. It’s the kind of experience a person remembers. And after listening to the music of Sam Robbins, it’s easy to imagine him being that well known one day.
Robbins’ has already won a handful of prestigious awards, and his music has been compared to the likes of James Taylor or Neil Young. It’s easy to see why. His voice is uniquely natural, both soft and strong as if he sings just as easily as he speaks. And the melodies of the songs he writes are a perfect complement. But the authenticity of Robbins’ lyrics also makes him stand out in a crowd. Whether it’s “Feeling Young Again,” from his latest album, his award winning “Remind Me,” or his allegorical “Amen,” with a message that goes places few songs go, it’s quickly apparent that residing inside this 28-year-old man is the old soul of a poet.
From the beginning, Robbins largely forged his own path into a musical career. Growing up in New Hampshire, he went hiking a lot with his father who is “kind of a mountain man.” On those trips, Robbins listened to the tapes his father had in a box in his truck. James Taylor. Jim Croce. Solo singer-songwriters. That was the extent of the musical background in his family.
“When I was a kid, I was also bad at basically everything,” he says, laughing. “Bad at math. School wasn’t that interesting to me. I’m not athletic. I’m really tall but I was bad at basketball. I was just…bad and I wanted to be really good at something.”
When he was in the fourth or fifth grade, the movie “Across the Universe” came out based on songs by The Beatles. “Something about the music really meant something to me. I can’t describe it. But I just kind of allowed myself to dive into it all the way. I don’t know why – I guess that’s part of the mystery.”
Looking back, that was the first step on the way to becoming a musician, and Robbins started off wanting to be a drummer. “I always wanted to be a punk drummer, which is a funny thing to think about now.”
At 13, Robbins picked up the guitar and the connection was made. He became fascinated by watching McCartney, Taylor and other solo artists. “But I didn’t have a road map to anything. I would strum along but it wasn’t something I would ever do in public. And, oh my God. I would never sing. It was like…singing? Was that something that was really girly?”
Around that same time, he also started writing his own music. When asked if he remembers his first songs, what came to mind is not a song about a girl who broke his heart. Instead, one of his first songs was about a place named Laketown where his grandfather lived. Another was “We Can Be Happy”, which was about positivity.
By the time he was 15 or 16, Robbins was writing songs and going into bars in Portsmouth when it was open mic. Asked how he went from being afraid to sing to going into bars and singing to a crowd of strangers, he says he just really loved it and had to find a way to do it.
“I was a really pithy teenager. I was so frustrated in school – I just didn’t care about it. I was so upset, and I said to my dad, I don’t want to do any of this. I just want to play drums for the rest of my life. I expected him to say ‘what kind of silly shit is this’ but, instead, he said, ‘Well, just do that as hard as you can then. Give that your all.’ It was really an incredible thing for him to say.”
When Robbins graduated from high school, he went to the prestigious Berklee School for Music in Boston where he says he learned a lot about music theory.
But his eye was always on writing songs that can come to him when he stops and takes a break from his chaotic life and observes what’s going on around him. Even more so, for him, “everything is a groove. Words have a real rhythm to them.”
He tells the story of watching an old woman of color buy a doll of color for her granddaughter and thinking about how that was something she probably wasn’t able to do when she was young. He then said to his fiancé, “There’s so much I still don’t see.”
And then, in telling the story, he – without any effort whatsoever – sings that as a line from a song and, even over the phone, it comes alive.
Just as Robbins makes each song uniquely and authentically his own, he uses his ability to create a song out of what is before him, doing things that most singer-songwriters don’t do.
For the past year, Robbins has been working with veterans. “I’ve been doing music therapy retreats where I write songs with veterans who are struggling with PTSD, and it is….unbelievable. Oh my God. These men and women have these stories that are waiting to be written. It’s the most amazing experience.”
He tells the story of a veteran who was in Afghanistan and told Robbins, “I don’t know what this is. I don’t write anything.”
“He was a super tough guy” Robbins says. “Super ripped and from Boston. He said he didn’t have anything to write about, so I said, okay. Let’s take a walk. And then he said, ‘I know something to write about. It’s the first thing I think of every morning. It’s something I haven’t told my wife about because, every time I try to tell her, I have a flashback. I want a song where I can finally tell her what happened to me.’ And, all of a sudden,” Robbins says, “he just melts in front of me and tells this story of trauma beyond comprehension. We played it for his wife and his mom, and everybody was crying. These guys have these experiences they have never talked about. Ever.”
Robbins’ life is centered around music yet, despite his extraordinary talent and despite now living in Nashville, he’s not motivated by fame. It is now, just as it was when he was fifteen. It’s all about the music and doing something he’s really good at.
Sam Robbins will be performing at Society Hall, 400 Ross Ave., on Friday, Sept. 27. Doors open at 6:30, and the concert starts at 7:30. Tickets can be bought at The Green Spot or online at www.societyhall.org.
