Central Texas Americana recording artist and songwriter Samantha’s musical journey began when Santa brought her a guitar at age eleven. She wrote her first song at age thirteen, and by twenty-one she was heading out of town to play open mics where, as she says “no one would know me. Sometimes I packed the place… and sometimes I played to quiet respectful listeners such as ashtrays, picnic tables, and barstools.”
However, music took a back seat when Samantha bent to familial pressures as she explains “I did what my family wanted me to do – I come from the stereotypical Hispanic family where the woman is supposed to grow up, get married young, and have lots of babies.” So, she married a war hero and had a baby. Everyone was happy…except Samantha. They tried to make it work, until it just didn’t anymore. They divorced, and Samantha started playing guitar again.
‘People Today‘ was written after a night of deep anxiety and introspection – as Samantha elaborates: “I was frustrated with my financial situation at the current time, being a very young mother. My parents were ruined by an onslaught of medical bills. I was now in this same cycle of poverty. My dad had gone to war twice and I grew up without him… no one cared. Boys I knew grew up, went to Iraq, and never came back. My peers didn’t seem to notice them missing. No one ever does, and no one ever seems to, in such a self-involved society… Me, my guitar, my anger, and my bullets/my words; a perfect cocktail for a timeless song.”
