welcome to the adventure
let’s start this party!…
ch. 1: the good
christian name: sickem’ sam
Goes By: Sam
Nicknames: Buster, Dr. Smell-Good, Muddy Buddy, Ham Sammich
Birthplace: Rolla, Missouri
Prominent Features: Red coat, Jug head, Long ears, Friendly eyes
Skills: Chasing raccoons, Begging, Sleeping, Licking himself, Lounging, Making friends
Midwest Fable: Sam takes after his father, Popsicle Pete, whom he never met. They lived on opposite sides of the same barn in their own individual chain link kennels. But it might as well have been on the other side of the Midwest. It’s said that Sam spent the first 18 months of his life penned up, only interacting with the old man who kept him there at feeding time. Sam was meant to be the old man’s last coondog, but recovery from Lyme’s Disease is a slow process, and the old man gave up on that dream, selling Sam to an aspiring country rock’n roller from Illinois.
Sam was wild as a mink and as insecure as a fat boy at cheerleading camp. But he eventually learned how to walk on a leash, sit when told, not argue with his new sister, enjoy the indoors, hunt raccoons, make friends and be a good boy.
Where Is He Now?: Sleeping on my bed
Moral of the Midwest Fable: Hang in there. Ya never know when someone who’s standing in your way will give up on their foolish dream so you can go live yours.
time for more music?
Here’s Track #2. It’s a real
bombshell
Ya know, you’re gonna get a lot of background stories and content throughout this Album Adventure. But there’s some stories that are simply better left inside the song. “Bombshell” is one of those :)
good times
“Joe Stamm perfectly captures the high and the inevitable fall, one with a headache so severe even the slightest sounds rip through your skull.”
This next song, on the other hand - Track #3, “Good Times” - it does have a story. I can’t tell ya what happened the night before - during the actual good times - because I don’t remember. But I do remember the hangover.
Here’s what I told B-Sides & Badlands when they ran a feature on this song back on July 30th:
“Hangovers have never been an excuse for me – I’ve always tried to push through them and force myself to be productive. That’s what I was doing one day last year. Sitting on a bench at the gym, starin’ at my sunken eyes in one of those mirrors they have wrapped around the walls, and I thought, “The good times are running me down…they’re keeping me down.” I immediately got up, drove home, pulled the blinds and wrote “Good Times.” This is one of them pounding head, blankets over the windows, watching reruns of Cheers, what am I doing with my life kinda songs. Enjoy.”
TEASER ALERT: Stay tuned - later in the adventure we might have an unreleased video for this song :)
scavenger hunt!
Here’s your mission:
Watch through the “Good & the Crooked” Music Video again. Answer the following question correctly and submit your answer in the form below:
how many total cigarettes does the preacher smoke throughout this video?
Ch. 1 merch feature
Sam picked out our Merch Features, so unsurprisingly, it’s all about the Red Dog:
