Tailored for speaking to hearts across generations, a Sammy Patrick show can tap into the emotions of duel audiences - those preferring a firm, character-rich vocal presence and others requiring the instrumental depth found in lead guitarists and bassists. This duality creates a Bob Dylan-meets-the Allman Brothers feel when "Tangled Up In Blue" is decorated and extended with soaring solos from "Jessica" or a Delta blues backdrop to a Chuck Berry tune by adding a heavy, rhythmic stomp on an acoustic foot drum. Instead of watering down Americana and rock staples with airy rhythms and fewer measures in the solo acoustic format, Patrick applies songs' signature melodies, which provide the lyrics and Southernesque voicing with a landscape in bloom.
For a solo, live performance to emit three-piece-band audibility, the San Francisco-based song crafter utilizes live looping, precise timing, and all four limbs to layer rhythm and bass tracks. Patrick's Gibson Chet Atkins SST is then given tube-driven warmth as an electric, lead tone surfaces.
Intricate instrumentation, albeit his niche, still yields throughout each show to stripped-down, acoustical interpretations of lyrical gems, such as "City of New Orleans" and "Ghost Riders In The Sky," as well as ones penned by the 33-year-old, like "City About A Girl" and "The Great Experiment," that seem to be at home amidst their popular neighbors in each set list.
