Nicole Wood

MUS-135-01
Guillen
Ethnography
Sam Gross Live: Blues Guitar and Vocals
On Friday, October 21st, I attended a Blues performance by Sam Gross, a local artist and
a good friend of mine, at Tate Street Coffee House in Greensboro, North Carolina. I arrived early,
and watched as people trickled into the coffee shop in order to watch the performance. Most
looked like other friends of his, but they looked eager to watch the performance. He began to
check his microphones, picking away at his acoustic-electric guitar and grabbed the attention of
everyone in the shop. He began with a brief introduction of himself that set the mood for his 2
hour showrelaxed, informal, and fun.
He began with some of his original work: sharp, percussive strums of the guitar
accompanied high, smooth, scat-like runs contrasted with lower, gravelly belting. The breaks in
his voice and the contrast of the soft, high lines with the stronger, beltier sections were very
reminiscent of traditional blues singing, reflecting the lyricsoften about lost love, lust, or
longing. The ease with which he made the transitions between the different qualities of his voice
and parts of his range was quite remarkable and vastly changed how the meaning of each song
was perceived by the audience. The softer, high range of his voice gave the perception of
emotional vulnerability and added a layer of sincerity to his already deeply personal repertoire.
The louder, gravelly belting he used created the soulful feeling that is usually associated with
blues music. His choices to switch between these two voices reflected his original text.

I could tell that most of the audience was unfamiliar with the blues music, but Gross
made it easy for everyone to engage with it, offering brief, personal descriptions of the songs that
he wrote throughout the set and giving the audience a glimpse into his life and the emotions that
he has experienced. He pulled me into what each song meant to him, allowing me to connect
more with him and the music he was playing. During my interview with Gross following the
show, he remarked that They (the songs) are real shit! Theyre all rooted in real experiences Ive
had with real people...I like blues music because its rawstraight up emotion.1
One of my favorite songs of the set was a bluesy cover of No Diggity by Queen Pen.
The way Gross transformed the song into his own style really stood out to me. As a singersongwriter, it can be difficult to establish your own unique style, but his cover songs perfectly
incorporated into the style of his original songsreveal that he has spent a lot of time
distinguishing his sound from those of the artists who have influenced his music.
The end of Gross first set, done on the electric guitar, had a more relaxed feel to it;
strumming on the electric doesnt have the same abrupt attack that strumming on the acoustic
does. The sustain on the electric guitar and the echo effects he applied with his amplifier gave the
sound an underwater quality. The songs he played during this set didnt rely so much on the
guitars sound, or rather, I thought that the sound of the electric guitar allowed the audience to
experience his voice in a different way. The sparseness of the guitar in many of these songs gave
audience members more of a chance to verbally appreciate his performance, whichin turn
encouraged him to open up more with his voice and his expressiveness.
Gross started his second set on his acoustic-electric guitar with what he described as the
ideal wedding song and softer vocal production. The second song, Waiting On Love Ill Never
1 Sam Gross, interview by author, Greensboro, NC. October 21, 2016.

Find, returned to the powerful, gravelly singing and guitar strumming of his first set on the
acoustic guitar. Switching between such contrasting songs about love exemplifies his lack of
success in finding what he desires in a partner, a struggle that most of us have gone through or
are currently going through. The stark difference between songs had a powerful effect on me
because I share many of the same feelings when it comes to loverelentless, albeit idiotic, hope
and repeated disappointment. Later in the set, he performed an original break up song that told a
story about wanting to get back with a partner of his, but then realizing that it would not be a
good choice to do so. Yet again, Gross was able to evoke a powerful emotional reaction from me;
I went through a tough break up earlier this year and experienced similar emotions to what he
described. Throughout all of his music, he pulls from tough emotional experiences that many of
us have gone through in our lives, remaining true to blues music which is known for rich and
often stirring emotional content.
Similarly to the first set, Gross switched over to the electric guitar, this time playing with
more force. The new, grungy sound on the guitar was accompanied by the powerful, gravelly
vocal style that he had used throughout the rest of the show. This combination offered yet
another facet of his style, one that drew more on primal instinct than it did on more sophisticated
emotion. This change of style reflected the darkness of the lyrics, yet again about romantic
pursuits that didnt end in his favor.
During his covers of better known songs, some audience members got a lot more engaged
with his performance, even joining Gross in singing Brick House by the Commodores. When I
inquired about it, audience member, Wesley McCleary-Small, explained to me that the song was
ingrained in his memory from growing up2. He couldnt sit still in his seat and continued to be
2 Wesley McCleary-Small, interview by author, Greensboro, NC. October 21, 2016.

physically engaged in Gross performance long after Brick House was over. I often heard
Wesley, a music major, humming improvised harmonies and dancing along with Gross other
songs. Other members of the audience responded in similar ways, moving to the groovy music
that Gross created and being verbally responsive to moments in the music that they appreciated.
To conclude each song, Gross would play a decisive strum, letting the audiencemany
of which were distracted in conversation, work, or gamesknow when to applaud. At the end of
his second to last song, he hesitated before playing that strum, looking teasingly up at the
audience as we waited in anticipation. The whole performance was marked by moments like
these, when Gross gave us tastes of his playful personality outside of the his music that allowed
the audience more detailed pictures of experiences he had gone through. Gross sets gave the
audience a taste of blues music and a large variety of other styles that showed off his vocal
capabilities and the styles of music that best allow him to express himself.