Biography
Sam Baardman is a veteran of the Canadian prairie music scene. At home in a variety of folk settings, he is a versatile and gifted instrumentalist, songwriter and lyricist. His original music ranges from the socially-conscious to the deeply personal with songs that are lyrically rich, penetrating and perceptive.
Sam has shared the stage with: Garnet Rogers, Bill Bourne, Laura Smith, Lucy Kaplansky, Don Ross, Vance Gilbert, Stephen Fearing, Fred Eaglesmith, Valdy, Heather Bishop, Stacy Earle, James Keelaghan and many others.
Sam also plays guitar regularly with the group Ten Bones, a Celtic quartet that fuses traditional tunes with modern instrumental music for fiddle, mandolin, guitar & whistle. Sam's songwriting talents extend to this genre as well, with Ten Bones incorporating many of his original jigs and reels into its repertoire.
Currently, Sam is the Executive Director of the Manitoba Audio Recording Industry Association, a development and support organization for the Manitoba music industry. In 2002 he was the recipient of the Prairie Music Award for Industry Builder of the Year.
History
Sam has been playing music in Winnipeg since the early Eighties. His first encounter with folk and roots rock goes back to days playing with the six-piece acoustic powerhouse Soft Parade. It was with Soft Parade that he began writing songs and got his first taste of the recording studio. He has spent his time as a front man for the Celtic rock group The Dust Rhinos which delivered a forceful blend of Celtic music and folk rock to appreciative audiences across Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan.
Sam was born and raised in Winnipeg's North End, the son of Dutch immigrants. He now lives with his partner Susan Israel (a fine Celtic fiddler) along with her two children, Isaac and Rosalyn. For most of the 'nineties, Sam taught language and literacy at the University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg. In the summer of 1999, he was in the final stage of a Ph.D. Program in Rhetoric and Education when, in a fit of good sense, he withdrew. A month later, he called home from his hotel room in the middle of Ontario's Summerfolk Festival to resign his teaching posts and began touring across the country as a folk artist.
Sam was one of the founders of the Ten Bones Celtic Music Weekend, an annual workshop event. He has led guitar and songwriting workshops in various settings.
Along with his partner Susan, Sam has also published a book of original tunes called Two Feet in Wavy Creek. A new book of his original songs has recently been published.