Single Review - Hard Time - Sam Coe

Sam Coe has gone solo

And sassy,

And a little dark

And none of those are a bad thing!

Although she has been with her band The Long Shadows for 4 years, and they have been signed to Ginger Dog Records for 2 years, Sam has always been writing “other” music, mostly on the piano in between teaching classes, and the material she has written is not for a band sound, so she has decided to make an album of just her – quite a leap!

I met up with Sam just as she came off stage for only her second ever solo performance, and the very first thing that she asked me was “was that ok?”

It feels like I’m a fraud – when you’ve been in a band so long you get used to having people with you to cover up the mistakes or make me sound better than I am. When you play by yourself you are so exposed there’s nowhere to hide vocally or musically

Its an understandable feeling – although I was quick to assure Sam that solo (accompanied only by Kevin from her record label) she sounded great, and in fact she performed a Chris Isaak cover that she absolutely knocked out of the park. Sam has been playing with bands since she was 15 years old, initially with a Country and Western Show band, then with a girl group supporting Take That on Tour and latterly, having come back to Country Music with the Long Shadows.

Talking to Sam, you quickly realise that music is very much her life, and she really believes in the authenticity of Country Music, mainly from a British rather than faux US perspective. As well as performing, Sam teaches music and runs two choirs. Through the choirs Sam says

You can see how singing together as one voice can change lives

And she describes music as a form of therapy for herself feeling strongly about the authenticity of Country Music and song writing

Comes back to that word “authenticity” – it  feels the most truthful form of myself while writing expressing my own thoughts and feelings through a medium I am most comfortable with

What about that sassy, dark new song? Featuring heavy beats, with Sam’s voice standing proud over the instruments and written in only ten minutes, Hard Time is a story of a couple separated by a Prison wall, but both still strong, strong together and strong apart

It feels like a metaphor for Sam’s own musical career!

The new album is due out this year, with the intention that every song will stand alone as deserving a place on the track listing. If this first release is anything to go by, the album will be one of the best this year

Hard Time, the first solo release from Sam Coe is available on 6 September.

Sam will be singing at Nashville Sounds in The Round next Wednesday, drinking at Millport Country Music Festival next weekend and on Facebook in her new solo, sassy guise