With his raspy, almost spoken word vocal style and his literate, poignant, and carefully observed songs that grapple with the beauties, complexities, and little tragedies of this world, Sam Baker has much in common with other Texan songwriters like Robert Earl Keen, James McMurtry, Townes Van Zandt, and Guy Clark, although his approach to narrative probably comes closest to an artist like John Prine. Baker grew up in Itasca, TX, a prairie town southwest of Dallas and Fort Worth on Interstate 35. He was exposed to a wide array of music as a child (his mother was a local church organist), not the least of which was his father's collection of country blues artists.