Sam Buckley

From Cream to Santana, The Who and Neil Young, Sam spent hours on his bed listening to these industry luminaries and cultivating his love of music.

Growing up on the Mid North Coast in NSW, Sam learnt to accompany his father for weekly jams and performances at their local church. In pursuit of his dream of becoming a professional Blues musician, Sam moved to Sydney in the mid 2000s.

While working as a labourer, he completed a Bachelor of Music at the Australian International Conservatorium of Music. Sam joined the Anni Piper band and regularly toured to many of Australia’s top Blues festivals. Anni and Sam’s co-written album, ‘Chasin’ Tail’ received rave reviews and regular airplay.

In 2010, Sam moved to Melbourne where he joined Dreamboogie, a highly polished and dynamic live band, led by charismatic singer Rebecca Davey. The band’s innovative sound incorporating electronic loops resulted in wins at the Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society’s Blues Performer of the Year Challenge in 2016 and Band of the Year at the 2018 Victorian-Tasmanian Blues Awards. 

After representing Victoria at the International Blues Competition in Memphis in 2016, Dreamboogie made it to the semi-finals - an incredible achievement of being in the top 50 Blues bands who competed in the competition. Dreamboogie’s album, Wearin’ It Out, charted at #12 on The Australian Blues and Roots Airplay Charts in December, 2016.

Stuck inside his Melbourne apartment due to Covid restrictions in early 2020, Sam began working on a brand new solo vocal and instrumental project featuring 60s, 70s and modern influences. 

Highly groove and song-oriented, it centres around Sam creating loops ‘live’ that result in a dynamic and exciting live show. All the sounds are created in the room ‘live’ during the performances and include: vocals, bass lines, rhythm parts, drum and lead guitar - the equivalent to a 5 piece band.

Sam now also features a duo and a band option which is an exciting addition to his sound and allows him to cater to just about any kind of performance setting. This duo and band options have been recently getting ‘rave’ reviews performing at the Big Chill Festival, Belingen Blues Festival and at The Great Northern in Byron Bay and are becoming known for their high energy, dynamic and grooves that make ya move performances.

Over the last two and a half years Sam has toured and performed prolifically and performed over 350 gigs. Highlights include Festival appearances such as at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, Dungowan Day Out, The Big Chill Festival, The Blues Train, Lawrence Lantern River Festival and Belingen Blues Festival to name a few.

UPCOMING ALBUM RELEASE!

Sam is currently creating an album with Blues royalty, Lester Snell, in Memphis. Lester and his band of renowned musicians worked with the original Stax recording artists such as: Al Green, Albert King, Isaac Hayes, Robert Cray, BB King. The album was also recorded at the legendary Royal Studios in Memphis where Al Green recorded his most well known songs.

Sam has performed at well over a 100 music festivals throughout his career, including: Blues on Broadbeach, The Fringe Festivals, Echuca Winter Blues Festival, Woodford Folk Festival, Bridgetown Blues Festival, Gaol Blues Festival, Sydney and Blues Festival. Since launching his solo career, he has supported Ash Grunwald, Katie Noonan and Ray Beadle on their tours and featured at the Fanzone Stage at TCMF ‘23. His first single Blue Ocean reached no 7 on the AMPRAP charts and his second single Rock Me Baby reached no 6. Sam was also the cover star for edition #2 of NSW magazine, Found Regional.