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Samantha (Sam) Parton[edit]

Samantha Parton is a Canadian musician, songwriter, and record producer. A founding member of The Be Good Tanyas, she sings and plays banjo, guitar, mandolin, piano and ukulele.

Biography[edit]

Daughter of immigrant parents, Sam Parton grew up in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. After leaving high school, she spent around 10 years travelling and working as a tree planter, before making a career from music. She met future members of The Be Good Tanyas while living in the Kootenays. (The Kootenays are a set of countercultural communities in southeastern British Columbia).

In 1993 she started work for a new tree planting company and met future band mate Frazey Ford on her first day there:

I was working away, my first day there, I was singing - was always singing while I worked - then I heard this other person singing from the next piece of ground over. It was pouring rain and all I could see was this little yellow sou’wester bobbing up and down, this person in a raincoat singing with this amazing voice ‘I’d rather drink muddy water’ Aretha Franklin style. I was singing some Joni Mitchell song. I sort of planted my way over there, and said ‘I like singing while I work too. Wanna sing together?’

While living in Nelson over the winter she also met future Be Good Tanyas member Trish Klein who was studying at the same music school as Frazey Ford. The three were regulars at the Open Mic Night in the Students Union, playing individually and sometimes together in various combinations.

Early in 1996, breaking up with a live-in boyfriend triggered a trip to Mexico for Parton while she waited for the next tree planting season to start. A chance meeting on the beech, with another mandolin player, lead her to play at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas. At Telluride, they played in the kids tent, performing a set of songs written by Parton specifically for the event. One of those songs "Creepy Crawly Stew" went on to be a hit for Laura Freeman.

Kerrville was important for Parton because it was there that she first realised she could make a living from music. The festival was extended that year to last for 21 days to honour its 25th anniversary. This gave Parton the chance to meet hundreds of other songwriters who were camped on the ranch.

Yeah, it’s a gated festival with stages, but all of the action is in the campground where the performers and the volunteers come and hang out. It really blew open the doors of my world to meet people who travelled around the world and played music. They even had ‘promotional materials'.

After Kerrville she moved to New Orleans to play mandolin in a band called "Avoiding Godot" with people she had met at the festival including Chris Chandler.

After a year or two Parton returned to Vancouver, where she met Texan singer and guitarist Jolie Holland. The instantly became friends and discovered they shared a number of mutual acquaintances. Holland had independently met Trish Klein a few weeks earlier and the three began making music together. Amongst the songs they covered was one by Holland's friend Obo Martin, called Be Good Tanya. It is a song about a wild gypsy girl who won't be cowed. Holland suggested naming the band after the song, as its spirited outlook reflected their own vagabond lifestyles.

At this point the Be Good Tanyas were just a busking band. Frazey Ford initially used to come to watch her friends play and was soon invited to join the band. After Ford joined, the Paul Clifford joined on drums and Andrew Burden on Bass.

The band went on to record three albums between 2000 and 2006, essentially as a trio without Holland, though she contributed something to all three records. The band was inactive between 2008 and 2011, but each member has pursued other projects. Sam Parton made guest appearances on Frazey Ford's solo album , on records by Trish Klein's side-project Po'Girl, and on Jolie Holland's records. She has made guest appearances as a performer on records by many other artists and produced records too.

A serious car crash in September 2012 caused Parton to miss a number of concerts by the Be Good Tanyas, including tours of the USA and UK in 2012 and 2013.

Discography[edit]

Albums with The Be Good Tanyas[edit]

Blue Horse (self released, 2000)
China Town (Nettwerk, 2003)
Hello Love (Nettwerk, 2006)

Songs and albums with other artists[edit]

Waiting for Godot (with Chris Chandler) - album "Convenience Stort Troubadors" (1997)
Jolie Holland - vocal on "I Wanna Die" on the album Catalpa (Anti,2003)
The Broken Family Band - vocal on "Devil in the Detail" (Snowstorm, 2003)
Po' Girl - Ukulele on "Moving On" and harmony vocal on "Prairie Girl Gone" on the album "Vagabond Lullabies" (Nettwerk, 2004)
Bell, Holland, Moore, Parton - vocal on "Fathers have a home sweet home" on the album "Face a Frowning World - An E.C. Ball Memorial Album" (Tompkins Square, 2009)
Tribecastan - vocal on "Stoned Baby" (and one other song) from the album "5 Star Cave" (Evergreene Music, 2010)
Gill Landry - album Piety and Desire (2010)
The Real Ones and Sam Parton - vocal on "Orlando" on the album "Real Ones & Extended Family" (Breaking Records, 2012)
Reid Jamieson - album "Staring Contest" (2010)
Will Scot - album "Gnawbone"
Ferron - album "Boulder"
Stripmall Ballads - album "Hooked"

As a producer[edit]

Jan Bell - album Dream of a miner's child (2012)
Deb Hirkala - album Somebody Somewhere (CD Baby, 2009)