Sammy Hundley
Sammy Hundley
Hull, TX
R&B/Soul / Pop / Folk
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Sammy was born April 26, the youngest of three children and the only boy at their home in tiny Hull, Texas. He grew up singing with his mother and sisters around their piano. The kids would take turns finding different harmony parts before they knew what the word "harmony" even meant.
His voice, however, was a little odd - he had a deep, gruff voice that compelled his parents to take him to the doctor to get checked out. The doctor gave him a clean bill of health and he never went through the "squeaky" stage that most adolescents endure. Things are better now.
It was in the serenity of the small, rural, southeast Texas community called Hull that Sammy found safe harbor from teenage mischief in the discovery of music.
In 1980, when Sammy picked up his first guitar and began learning how to make a few chords, the odds were stacked against him. Sammy, being a lefty, had to deal with one fairly certain fact: there was no abundance of left-handed guitars in Hull, Texas. So, Sammy did the next best thing and the only thing he could do at the time - he learned to play upside-down. To make that more clear, Sammy took a right-handed guitar, flipped it over where he could play it left-handed and he had to learn how to make all the chords that way. Not too much later, he turned the strings over and re-learned left-handed. In effect, Sammy learned to play twice -A feat which, in later years, would enable him to become one of the finest guitar teachers in the Houston area. Six months later, his father used his Christmas bonus from the oilfield work he did and got him a left-handed Fender Stratocaster.
Within a couple of months of learning to play, Sammy began playing in his first band. He hasn't looked back since.
In the years that followed, Sammy began honing his musical talents and defining the direction that his music would take him. He sat-in on various recording sessions on albums, demos and parodies for radio conglomerate United Stations in New York for a while and continued to perfect his craft. Sammy had become a proficient keyboard player, acoustic guitarist, bass guitarist, electric and lead guitarist, background and lead vocalist while dabbling in every facet of music from classical to jazz, rhythm & blues to pop, and country to rock. Sammy has had many students, teaching all types of guitar and piano. Being an ambidextrous player, Sammy had no problem adapting to instructing left or right-handed students.
Sammy has been involved with various cover and original bands including Chris Walker, musical director for Al Jarreau and hit singer in the '90's (Sammy performed in Shanghai, China in September 2004 with Walker), "The Ruse" (which also contained the acoustic duo known as Pete & Sam), Trick Dog, Radio personality and comedian Chris Baker's bands "The Voodoo Playboys" and "The Chick Magnets", original band "Forte" (jazz-fusion, mostly instrumental), variety bands "Yvonne Washington", "The Allstars" and a couple of appearances each with local legends "TK-oh!" and "Doppelganger."
Sammy continues to please audiences, throughout greater Houston, not only with his solo act, which can be enjoyed in a variety of popular nightspots, but with several other Southeast Texas entertainers. One such singer/songwriter, Sammy often teams-up with for a fantastic duo gig, is local entertainer Trey Clark. Sammy's band, affectionately referred to "Shortbus," keeps him busy when he's not doing his solo show. He is also co-owner and founder of Willow Street Entertainment Group LLC which serves as an umbrella for Hangin' Boot Records, both of which were formed in 2006 with a very close and lifelong friend Mike Parrish.
Sammy continues to please audiences, throughout greater Houston, not only with his solo act, which can be enjoyed in a variety of popular nightspots, but with several other Southeast Texas entertainers. One such singer/songwriter, Sammy often teams-up with for a fantastic duo gig, is local entertainer Trey Clark. Sammy's band, affectionately referred to "Shortbus," keeps him busy when he's not doing his solo show. He is also co-owner and founder of Willow Street Entertainment Group LLC which serves as an umbrella for Hangin' Boot Records, both of which were formed in 2006 with a very close and lifelong friend Mike Parrish.
Sammy and Mike have been very busy recording their own music and building a large following throughout Texas and the United States while having several fans throughout the world. Sammy and Mike completed the recording of Mike's 15-track album "Texas in the Man" and are currently anxiously awaiting the release of that CD which is anticipated to be in mid-July 2007. The title cut from that album, "Texas in the Man," was recently featured in the international Fame Games Radio Contest where, in the span of a couple of weeks, "Texas in the Man" entered the Green Room (with approximately 80 other artists of all genres) and was chosen for the qualifier show (140-Q) to compete against 14 other artists and was then chosen to compete in the Fame Games Main Edition against only 4 other artists. This edition aired on 06/30/2006 for millions of listeners, mostly European, and gained quite a number of distinctions. Their song earned a Fame Games Record, #1 for the number of listener votes cast online (it's no surprise that their second entry into the contest "Blue Jean Baby" is currently the 2nd highest vote catcher), it was awarded the position of #3 in Fame Games All-Time Top Ten Rock Songs and awarded #5 of Fame Games All-Time Top 40 crossing all genres. Sammy has also completed the long-awaited acoustic album entitled "House Full of Nothing" and all of those tracks can be heard right her on ReverbNation. The release of "House Full of Nothing" was almost simultaneous with the "Texas in the Man" CD and both of those albums are available via digital download from the Hangin' Boot Records SNOCAP MyStore found on Sammy's MySpace Page.
As if all of the projects listed above weren't enough to keep him well occupied and gainfully employed, Sammy is also working on a much larger full-production album tentatively entitled "Undiscovered." Sammy has been also working on the Parrish / Hundley duo album, untitled thus far, as well as working with Mike on his next solo album, "Urban Heaven," which should be released sometime in mid-2008. It shouldn't surprise fans and friends of Sammy Hundley to learn that he and Mike are also discussing the possibility of a Hard Country / Southern Rock style Christmas album as well.
Some of Sammy's influences are cited as being: (HIGHLIGHTS ONLY) - Billy Joel, Elton John, Michael McDonald, Lennon & McCartney, James Taylor, Jim Croce, Phil Keaggy, Larry Carlton, Ray Charles, Journey, Fleetwood Mac, Smokey Robinson, Carol King, among a host of others.
Sammy can be heard all over the greater Houston area singing covers and music that he has written himself, such signature songs as "Umbrella," which have become a favorite of Houston audiences. Check the calendar on this site for appearances.
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by Sammy Hundley
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