The Sam Payne Project: Coming Just to Go

The riveting Comin' Just to Go is the newest CD from nine-time Pearl Award nominee Sam Payne. Already, it's making the family proud: "These guys have really outdone themselves with this one. Don't change a thing!" raves the Southern Utah press, and with added touches by special guests like Cherie Call and Ryan Shupe, Payne's Comin' Just to Go is sure to take up perennial residence next to your favorite albums.

In styles ranging from high folk to big funk, Comin' Just to Go balances the virtuoso folk performances of "That's America" (with Ryan Tilby of Peter Breinholt's "Big Parade") and "Sunflower" (a duet with the remarkable Cherie Call), against the fusion-influenced "Cool" and "Act II." In addition, the album is punctuated by wacky free-for-alls like "Shazam" (with Ryan Shupe) and the title rack "Comin' Just to Go," a Bo Diddley blues that will bring the roof down.

The Sam Payne Project was born on September 12, 2001. The Trade Center towers had fallen the day before, and Payne was in the studio to record a tune for a local compilation album. Eerie in its timeliness, the tune was "Ohio Son," a song written in 1998 about soldiers anticipating what turned out to be U.S. bombing strikes over Iraq. Behind the controls was producer and guitarist Steve Lemmon, with whom Payne was then only cursorily acquainted. Over the course of mixing the tune, bluegrass player Ryan Tilby came to fill the second engineer's seat. The track turned out fine, but three original albums and a hundred performances later, the real fruits of those few days are still ripening. The project has since grown to include drummer and songwriter Nic Chamberlain, as well as long-time horn player Denis Zwang. The members of the project bring to the table a history that includes performances on stages from the Akasaka Prince ballroom in Tokyo to Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center.

The press has said of the Project's music: "Sam Payne delivers his riveting folk tales with passion, emotionally stirring hooks, and an almost supernatural ability to tell a story."