Sam Masterton

“I am Sam”The oldest of four boys, Samuel Robert Michael Masterton grew up in Fort Langley, BC. Inspired by a Ben Harper CD he was given by a fellow border on the slopes one day, Sam bought a slideguitar and learned to play. Today he’s 28, and has been playing to critical acclaim for almost a decade – as a session musician, as a founding member of RUN GMC (on the West Coast) and as a solo artist.As far as one DJ is concerned, Sam is a “local lapsliding, pickin' and grinnin', dobrolicious” favourite. And his music has been described as, among other things, “gospel country roots”, “truck-drivin', foot-stompin' hillbilly [mania]”, and “acoustic swing with a backbeat”. Whatever the adjectives, Sam is good and his music is great and people with working ears and any sense at all are starting to take notice.His first CD (self-titled, independently released, and recorded in his Calgary kitchen) is available now.And while he’s certainly found his footing in the Canadian music world, Sam’s taken a fairly long and winding road to get here:After high school, he studied theology and played varsity hockey at a local college, but dropped out to pursue acting (at Studio 58). Unfulfilled, he quit that too, and set his sights on a career in music. While he honed his craft, Sam worked odd jobs: he tended bar and hit the kitchen on several continents, worked as a rough neck on an oil rig, and spent 114 days at sea as a deck hand for a fishing lodge and as a medic in the oil patch.And while the pay was good, the time spent away from his dog and his guitar was too much. He left to play music full time. (Which is a good thing: Many guys working the rigs lose their fingers; Sam got out with all his digits intact.)When he’s not playing (which is most of the time), Sam travels, skateboards, snowboards, and plays hockey. He loves Tetris, chess, straw-bale construction, and Steam Whistle beer. He’s also learning to refinish pianos and builds and sells his own lapslide guitars.Sam dedicates his performances to his beloved dog Felicia, may God rest her soul.