“Sam Baardman’s return is a triumphant one! ... Every song will captivate you and leave you longing for more! ” - Jim Marino
— Freewheeling Folk Show, 93.3 CFMU, Hamilton, ON
“Channeling Dylan with hooks to match ... Highly recommended!” - Mike Davies
— FATEA Magazine, UK
Bio
LATEST RELEASE
After the release of Sam's well-received comeback album, Marsh Radio, he is back with his fourth full-length recording, Athabasca. The album is available on all streaming platforms and is for sale directly from Sam's website.
The Athabasca project began in 2022 when Sam was exhibiting and performing at a conference called “Art, Activism and Advocacy” in Winnipeg. There, he spoke to a scientist in attendance from Global Water Futures (GWF), a program that supports climate research across Canada and beyond. GWF arranged for Sam to spend two weeks that fall at the Coldwater Laboratory in the Rockies to speak with scientists about their climate-related work. Sam climbed a glacier with one of the world's leading glaciologists and traveled with GWF scientists to their observatories atop mountains, deep inside alpine forests, and onto the northern prairie.
“Spending time with these researchers was a life-changing experience. It really opened my eyes and helped me to understand the science much more deeply, but getting to know the scientists was just as important. I discovered a group of extraordinarily dedicated people who are confronting the global environmental crisis head-on,” says Sam. “They are in a race against time, in a battle against apathy and ignorance, in a fight for resources, and in a constant struggle to be heard by global leaders, policy-makers, legislators, regulators, and the general public. We owe it to ourselves and to them to pay attention to what they are discovering, and more importantly, to act on it together.”
Athabasca is a true science-art collaboration, a collection of environmental songs that was released on April 22nd, Earth Day, at the West End Cultural Centre in Winnipeg. Environmentalism has been a theme in Sam’s music from his earliest days as a songwriter and this new album is a culmination of decades of ecological art-making. The songs are thoughtful, poetic, often biting commentary on the current crisis. There are celebratory songs about the beauty of nature, but also songs that speak to our bewilderment, hurt, and anger at the dilemma we find ourselves in.
“I know music can activate a response that is really positive,” says Sam. “It can help express something that someone may have found to be inexpressible about the current catastrophe. Like all art, it can awaken new insights and perhaps help people feel new resolve.” The album features everything from gorgeous acoustic songs to grinding folk rock, all of which showcase Sam’s stellar lyrical craft and solid, memorable music.
Athabasca was recorded at Paintbox Recording in Winnipeg, Manitoba and was masterfully produced by Lloyd Peterson. Just like the recent Marsh Radio, this album features a stellar cast of musicians, some of whom happen to be Sam's family members. "Making music with your family and friends is good for the soul,” says Sam. “The love that we felt together making this music shines through on every track.”
FOCUS TRACK
The first single from ATHABASCA
Our beloved Lake Winnipeg is now considered to be the most threatened of the world's great lakes. Eutrophication is causing annual toxic algae blooms of 10,000 square kilometres or more. It's time to get serious about restoring this sacred, beautiful lake. Millions of wild things are depending on us.
Video
Live Performance
Press / Reviews
After a long hiatus, Sam Baardman’s return is a triumphant one! His latest release, MARSH RADIO, is a definite must-have! He is in fine voice, with powerful lyrics covering personal, political, and other varying looks at life! Every song, whether ballad or folk-rock, will captivate you and leave you longing for more! (Jim Marino, Freewheeling Folk Show, 93.3 CFMU, Hamilton, ON)
... channeling Dylan with hooks to match ... You are highly recommended to find the Marsh Radio frequency and tune in. (Mike Davies, FATEA Magazine, UK)
A virtually unheralded Winnipeg troubadour, Baardman has emerged as one of the city’s strongest and most literate songwriters. . . . Baardman’s world is all about contrasts and realizations. The singer-songwriter speaks to the human condition, to the age old quest for happiness and fulfillment in a world so confusing that one can rarely know one’s own mind. (Winnipeg Free Press)
Baardman is writing about the human experience, its home. His songs have a remarkable clarity to them, like the true, simple ring of a tuning fork. (Mitch Podolak, Founder of the Winnipeg Folk Festival)
