I was introduced to Oklahoma City based songwriter Carter Sampson some years ago after she played a gig at Kansas City’s Knucklehead Saloon. I was very impressed by her command of the stage and storytelling. We briefly crossed paths multiple times in Nashville during Americanafest, in Oklahoma during Woodyfest and in Kansas City for occasional gigs at the Westport Saloon and again at Knuckleheads. She had been booked to play several Kansas City gigs in early 2020 that got cancelled either because of bad weather or the Covid-19 pandemic. I tried multiple times to schedule conversations with her since 2018 for this podcast and we just couldn’t make it happen. The stars aligned and we were finally able to get Carter back to Kansas City for an intimate show at Mike Kelly’s Westsider as part of the Bloody Mary Morning Listening Room Series presented by the Heartland Song Network. This episode is a portion of the conversation we had on air via my Tasty Brew Music Radio Show on 90.1 FM KKFI just before she hit the road for Kansas City.
Carter has released five studio albums and is working on her latest record with Oklahoma producer Kyle Reid. Her 2016 release Wilder Side received international attention and was No. 3 on that year’s Euro Americana year end chart. She is the founder and director of The Rock n’ Roll Camp for Girls OKC, a nonprofit volunteer run organization that empowers girls through music education. She is a proud member of the Citizen Potawatomie Nation.
I love everything about Carter Sampson. Her clear and present voice, wordcrafting, guitar skills, artistic visual aesthetic, and work ethic. She is as equally adept at fronting a full band on the main stage of a music festival as she is keeping a small room of dedicated listeners completely captivated for hours. She was meant to lead a lyrical and musical life and that is what she has done, is doing and will do moving forward. Enjoy my long awaited one on one with Carter Sampson….to be continued somewhere down the road… most likely in Oklahoma.