Some of y'all may remember our banjo playing Scotsman friend Sam Shackleton from his previous many appearances on the channel ( • Sam Shackleton, "House... , or his many viral TikTok clips. His banjo, guitar and whistling skills have become renowned throughout the world, and in this installment of our new VHS HQ series, he stopped in Nashville, Tennessee on his very first USA tour. He was gearing up for a string of shows with The Mary Wallopers. I actually had introduced them myself in Ireland, and Sam hit it off with the Wallopers over some late night pints and folk songs. That culminated in a nice bunch of shows, including these USA ones.
While Sam was at my house in Tennessee, we did a little tour of Appalachia, heading up to Kentucky to meet Benjamin Tod, to Elmwood to meet a sheep herder named Briar, and to Villa Acres farms in Sparta for some porch pickin. There really is a connection between Scotland and these Appalachian areas, and Sam often remarked how far he was from home, yet how comfortably familiar the character of the people was. I gave him the best little vacation I could out here, and hope he had as much fun as I did. Sam is one of the nicest fellows in the world, and I expect his star will only continue to rise over the years. I'll just be glad to say I knew him back when.
Our undying love and gratitude go to our executive producers for making this project possible: Brad Sirois, Mitchell Davis, Keith McQuillan, David Jameson, Lisa Galvan, Irvin Maddox, Josh Collins, Brady Jones, Julie Nestoroff, VJ Arizpe, Mr. Free and Rusty Shackleford.
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GemsOnVHS is a long running series of intimate, off-stage performances by songwriters we love.
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0:00 (Intro)
1:08 Wild Bill Jones
4:26 (Sam's time in America)
5:07 The Overgate
7:47 (touring with Pokey LaFarge)
8:16 (Trawler's Lullaby introduction)
8:45 Trawler's Lullaby
12:28 (Scotland and America's folk traditions, and advice for the kids)