Carter Sampson - Wilder Side (2016)

Singer-songwriter Carter Sampson also comes from Oklahoma City. She comes from a musical family and learned to play guitar from her father at the age of fifteen. She is the founder and leader of Oklahoma City’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls, an organization that works with other non-profit organizations to help girls and women advance through music. Carter Sampson, who gives an average of 200 concerts a year, has already won a number of awards. Last year, for example, she won fourth prize in the Telluride Troubadour Contest at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado and was among the top ten finalists in The Rocky Mountain Folks Festival’s 2015 Songwriters Showcase in Lyons, Colorado. Carter Sampson is called “The Queen of Oklahoma”.

‘Wilder Side’, her new (fourth) album, with ten new compositions of her own, was recently released. Just like her previous album, this new album is again excellently produced by Travis Linville and Sampson is accompanied by musician friends from Oklahoma.

The title track is a nice uptempo number with a beautiful pedal steel. Highway Rider is a beautiful ballad. Excellent singing by Sampson, who reminds me of Eileen Jewell, the backing vocals of John Moreland and the organ of Ryan Jones. In Run Away the dobro and the sparkling strumming guitars stand out. All musicians are excellently in shape in the heavier Holy Mother, with again the beautiful voice of Carter Sampson, which reminds me of Dar Williams. A truly beautiful song is Everything You Need. Excellent singing, the omnipresent organ and the dobro. Country folk of the highest order. Medicine River is a beautiful ode to Medicine Park in The Wichita Mountains with Carter Sampson as a young Dolly Parton and the subtle accompaniment. Take Me Home With You is another beautiful ballad in the style of Tift Merritt, with “wizard” and producer Travis Linville on dobro. Sampson then sings, supported by backing vocals, in the ballad Wild Bird, carried by Jones' organ, the stars from the sky. The album's prize number. It's just a bit of a shame that the song ends a bit too abruptly. The spirit of Hank Williams floats above the uptempo Tomorrow's Light. The album ends autobiographically with See The Devil Run, in which Sampson tells about her visit to Al Green's Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis. 'Let the tambourine ring and let the organ hum, gather 'round good people, you gonna see the devil run'. Brilliant!