DANGEROUS MINDS PREVIEWS NEW ALBUM ‘SUPER SPIRIT’ (OCT 2 / BIG LEGAL MESS)
TOUR KICKS OFF OCT 3 AND INCLUDES COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME, KING BISCUIT FEST
Among Ironing Board Sam’s many triumphs of the past few years –
returning several times to New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival,
playing Newport Folk Festival, performing at Lincoln Center, appearing
on the PBS News Hour, signing with Big Legal Mess for his new album
‘Super Spirit’ – is a return to national TV as the spokesman for
Faultless Starch. It’s quite a climb for a musician who was homeless
after Hurricane Katrina. Check out the TV spot here.
Dangerous Minds premiered the Gories cover “I Can’t Take It” from the
album ‘Super Spirit,’ saying, “Ironing Board Sam’s version absolutely
cooks, melding rock, soul, and blues to fine effect. Sam possesses the
kind of weathered, soul-drenched voice that only a seasoned R&B
veteran has these days."
Music Maker Relief Foundation’s Aaron Greenhood sets the scene of Sam’s
taping the national TV commercials as well as his own thoughts on style:
It’s 6am
and Ironing Board Sam is standing in his house clothes putting some
finishing touches on his pants when I come in to check on him in his
hotel room in Kansas City.
“Aaron, I always ironed my own clothes. Everywhere I go, the first thing
I look for is the ironing board.” Sam is getting prepared for his last
day shooting commercials for Faultless Starch in Kansas City. He’ll do a
photo shoot, record the jingles he wrote and perform in two commercials
touting Faultless’ newest line of starch called “Premium.” For Sam,
this is the realization of a life’s work.
A few nights prior, during his interview with Chuck Haddix, host of the
Fish Fry on KCUR , Kansas City’s favorite blues radio show, Sam
recounted the story of how he got his name, and how it led to one of his
proudest moments as the celebrity icon for Faultless Premium Spray
Starch:
“The starch campaign is an extension of my career (as Ironing Board
Sam), a name I hated when I was starting out has now connected me to a
great company that started in 1887, a company that’s about clothes. My
name is about clothes and my career has been about clothes because I’ve
always been about looking good, from 25-75, it took that long. But, it
took that time to make my career come to life.”
A few months ago, I got a call from Faultless’ marketing team asking if
Ironing Board Sam was real. As Music Maker’s Artist Services
Coordinator, these are the calls I dream of because I spend most of my
days looking for gigs and paychecks for Sam and our many other partner
artists. When they told me a Google image search for “ironing board” had
turned up the photos of Sam, I realized that four years of shooting and
posting were totally worthwhile.
Sam was blown away by the complete experience of doing the starch
campaign. He loved Kansas City calling it a “city with a groove, like
when you’re playing music and you feel the groove, that’s what Kansas
City feels like to me. The food is groovy, too.“
Sam’s career has had many ups and downs and he is famous for following
an outrageous idea to its glorious realization. Sam sees his
relationship with Faultless Starch as something more than just a work
opportunity – it’s fate. “The spirit told me about the starch, I had a
vision. This can is going to take me to where I want to go. It’s all for
a reason.“
Ironing Board Sam ‘Super Spirit’ Tour Dates
10/3 - Doubletree Hotel | Asheville, NC
10/7 - Music City Roots | Nashville, TN
10/8 - Thacker Mountain Radio | Off Square Books | Oxford, MS
10/8 - Proud Larry's | Oxford, MS
10/9 - Blue Canoe | Tupelo, MS
10/10 - King Biscuit Blues Festival | Helena, AR
10/11 - Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum | Nashville, TN
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