Suitcase Sam is unique and, in these days of computerised blandness, a refreshingly original voice. 

 

Goodnight Riverdale Park ought to elevate Suitcase Sam to the country music premier league. Excellent band & backing vocals. 8/10

 

...splendidly crafted and infectious songs which show a real songwriting talent. This is certainly niche music, especially in the UK, but it’s a big and loyal enough niche to make Suitcase Sam a queue of people ready to help him carry his bags.

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It’s the way he explores the possibilities of a song with his own unfettered enthusiasm that gives the album its spark...And so it goes, in a series of flashes though the archives of American roots music with Sam at the centre of it. He celebrates his eclectic musical appetites with intimate narratives and down-home music that lingers long after the song has finished. A fine debut album that serves as the perfect introduction to his heartfelt musical roots.

 

He is a primal roots music throwback who colours his music with hues borrowed from blues, early jazz, vaudeville and classic honky-tonk country and writes with a stark brevity that punctuates every heartbeat of the characters who draw the attention of his pen: railroad workers, itinerant bums, booze-hounds, love-drunk couples, the longing and the satisfied, the faithful and the lost. He spins these yarns into rootin’ tootin’ travelogues moseying on down through spirited Delta blues, roadhouse honky-tonk and barrel-house jazz. this is a throwback to the kind of albums that the major labels produced back in the early 1970s, when diversity and eclecticism was readily embraced. His caustic reflections are delivered with dark humour: He makes everyday life funny, and he makes you smile with the weirder scenarios he brings to life. [Sam] emerges as a contemporary troubadour with a vintage vibe, able to inform, amuse and entertain with equal facility.

 

  • GOODNIGHT RIVERDALE PARK: Classic Rock Magazine

Goodnight Riverdale Park” is a lazy Sunday-afternoon listen that deserves to be heard.

 

  • GOODNIGHT RIVERDALE PARK: Blues in the South (UK)

This is a masterful record…Wonderful! Add this to your collection a.s.a.p.

 

  • GOODNIGHT RIVERDALE PARK: Blues Matters (UK)

An album worthy of going back to time and again.

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  • GOODNIGHT RIVERDALE PARK: Blues in Britain (UK)

​​​​​​​A rather wonderful roots music release – check it out.

 

  • GOODNIGHT RIVERDALE PARK: RnR Magazine (UK)

Anyone struggling to define Americana might want to call on “Goodnight Riverdale Park” as a first-class example of its diversity.

 

If your thing is authentic evocations of classic periods of American musical history, then give this a listen.

 

If you are a fan of throwback country music, you’ll find a lot to like with Suitcase Sam. The slide guitar is a really good detail added into this track. The lead vocal feels vintage and the overall composition really hits a classic sound. You could picture these cats playing a honky tonk in the late 40s without much trouble. What a sound!

 

...Suitcase Sam has completely nailed the country/rock genre with his latest single, "Growing Up." Even though the song hearkens back to the early 70's glory days of that style, it feels completely timeless. According to the press release, Suitcase Sam wanted to make an album that sounded like it was released in 1972. Well... he accomplished that goal. "Growing Up" is a rambling country rocker in a style that doesn't quite get made like this anymore, and that's kind of a shame.  

 

...Goodnight Riverdale Park is 10 tracks of sheer roots music bliss as Suitcase Sam incorporates country, blues, jazz and folk into a cleverly produced album that sounds like it comes straight out of somewhere between the 1930's to 1950's. He obviously has a passion for traditional roots music and he delivers it in an expert fashion that shows his deep respect for it. With singalong vocals, honky-tonk style piano, happy clarinet and some fine fiddle, this is a real treat from start to finish. 

 

...at times, listening to Sam, I couldn’t help feeling like I was listening to Adam Sandler riffing on 1920s standards. And yet...Sam has me really digging what he’s doing in a completely unironic way. He’s worth a listen for sure.  

 

...This EP is quirky and whether you dig it or don’t depends on how elastic your boundaries are.  It’s the equivalent of finding a dusty, groovy antique shop, and it’s a refreshing change from what I usually listen to.

 

...Suitcase Sam's EP is a treat for fans of traditional roots music.

 

PACK SUITCASE SAM
...If you were to hear songs like "The Sweetest Hippopotamus" and "Gas Pedal Rag" free of any context, you could be forgiven for thinking you were listening to some old jazz or folk music from the '20s or '30s. Almost everything about them -- the vocals, the melodies, the general vibe -- hearkens back to a much different era, and the only way you can tell that the songs are, in fact, modern is that the production quality is a little bit too crisp and clean.
Complaints about how good the songs sound, however, really don't -- or shouldn't -- amount to much. Suitcase Sam's debut is made to be thrown on and enjoyed, and demanding anything more from Get It To Go misses the point of it entirely.

 

  • Suitcase Sam plays real music.  Music that is good in any decade.  Music that needs no computer.  It's old time country/blues that is very pleasant to listen to.  It's also very encouraging to know that these kind of tunes still get made. The Deli Magazine.

 

  • Suitcase Sam...a less annoying Randy Newman BlogTO

...One man sometimes two man band, pulls out the classics, cowboy blues riffs on acoustic guitar, accompanied by kazoos, piano & the occasional horn. Sam's voice floats over his oldtime-y ditties like a less annoying Randy Newman.  Seriously they should have hired him to do the Toy Story score. Simplicity at its best, Suitcase Sam makes the small guy sound big with a comforting warmth.