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Bio

Samara Jade is a modern folk troubadour and multi-instrumental musical seamstress who stitches together a unique tapestry of sounds from diverse musical strands, borrowing flavors folk, jazz, soul, blues, and Appalachian.  nique genre-bending tapestry of sounds and stories into a sound that some have called “Philosopholk.

 

Much of Samara's songwriting is inspired by her great love of and connection with the natural world as well as brave tendencies to spelunk into the shadowy realms of the human soul, and more often than not she ties mirror-like metaphors between them.  Straight from the source of flowing rivers, old growth trees and mountain peaks,  and delivered with an acrobatically emotive voice, intricately groove-based guitar riffs, catchy melodies and a clever intellect, her songs are truly musical medicine for our times.   

 Originally from the Hudson Valley of New York, Samara grew up steeped in the folk music and culture of Pete Seeger and the like, and accumulated a number of other diverse musical influences from seeing (and memorizing every single word of) the Broadway musical “Rent,” discovering her father’s record collection of Yes, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, and playing guitar in high school swing band. Somewhere in there, Samara started making up songs, and hasn’t stopped since.  Samara was awarded a scholarship to study guitar at Berklee College of Music, which she did for a year before hearing the call of the “real” world and her nature-loving roots, and migrating south to the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina to study environmental education, immerse herself in growing food, and eventually record three albums and become a fixture of the Asheville music scene. Upon turning thirty and feeling the need to burst through some emotional and existential stagnancy and really shake things up, Samara moved into her van and toured out to the west coast, loosely anchoring around Port Townsend, Washington and frequently touring up and down the coast.  Naturally, the music of all of those landscapes and cultures has seeped its way into her sound and conscience.   

 

They cut through truth, open hearts, stimulate minds, and could fall into the nutshell of a fan-coined genre, "Philosopholk," and whether she is performing solo or with her band, Samara's tunes are bound to get you dancing, crying, laughing - maybe all at the same time!  

Samara released her third album, “Wave of Birdsong,” a tastefully orchestrated folk epic, with Jumpsuit Records in 2019, and is now embracing a bi-coastally roving musician lifestyle, spreading the songs around like thousands of spiraling helicopter seeds - which is, not coincidentally, what a samara is.

Photos by Violet Visions and Mary Arose

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