AMG Review of Pretty World

Ronnie D. Lankford
All Music Guide

With an off-the-cuff style of delivery and lyrics that manage to be both odd and poignant, Sam Baker is a quirky folk singer on Pretty World. One might think of a folk singer like Butch Hancock, though the two have little in common save their idiosyncrasies and the quality of their work. On the opener, "Juarez (A Song to Himself)," steel guitar and accordion dominate a spacy arrangement with a bouncy cadence. A string of vignettes are set in a whorehouse and bookended by the catchy though disheartened chorus that calls attention to a singer with "a blue suede cowboy hat": "He sings an old song/A song to himself/He sings waiting round to die." One might catch the reference to Townes Van Zandt's "Waiting Around to Die," though Baker, unlike Van Zandt, tinges this story-bio with humor. One supposes that referencing a well-known singer also helps place Baker as a later day Texas troubadour, an authentic heir to Van Zandt and Guy Clark. While these are big shoes to fill, Baker writes well, and each song is supported by warm, spare arrangements. "Orphan" and the title cut match the odd ambience of the opener, and both are aided by Marcia Ramirez's harmony. Highlighted by Baker's vocals and wry observations, Pretty World is a solid release.