TribuTerry Sam
My name is Terry Sam and my journey as a songwriter began around the age of 10 in Northern California, but I became much more serious about it around the year 1997. In 1986, I moved to New York where there's lots of fertile ground for creativity and lived there nearly 20 years before recently relocating just across the Hudson River to West New York.
I’ve named myself TribuTerry Sam because I view my music as “a stream that flows into a larger stream” in more ways than one, like a tributary. I also view my music as a humble tribute of sorts to all those who have nurtured, inspired and enlightened me with their care, music and wisdom.
I wrote, played, sang, recorded, mixed and produced these songs all by myself. These are songwriter demos, not professionally produced artist recordings.
I'm more of an "old school" musician/songwriter, inspired and influenced by music of the 60's and 70's. I actually write, play and sing all the parts on these songwriter demos using real instruments (no samples, tape loops, drum machines, auto tuners, sequencers, etc.), although I do use a Yamaha DTXpressII electronic drumset for my drum tracks and some percussion so as not to disturb my neighbors. This also allows me to have different drumset sounds from song to song. Keep in mind that an electronic drumset is not the same thing as a drum machine, which is more about pushing buttons and turning knobs ("set it and forget it"). With an electronic drumset you actually pick up a pair of drumsticks and use your hands and feet to play through an entire song just like a standard acoustic drumset. In other words, it requires real musical ability.
I'm not the greatest singer, guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, etc. But I can do these things well enough to get my point across. But in the end all of this isn't about me so much. It's about songs -- songs that I hope others will be interested in performing and/or recording. Hopefully, something I write will resonate with all who listen. And I'm sure there's lots of great singers and musicians that could greatly improve on these renditions of these songs and take them to new heights. And I'd love to get feedback from anyone who drops by this website to listen.
Enjoy!