As a songwriter and performer, Sam Payne (the son of troubadour and actor Marvin Payne) has played stages from the jazz clubs of Tokyo to the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Payne has written and performed with a number of projects, including the locally acclaimed "The Utah Jazz Quintet," but it is perhaps with his original music that audiences most identify. Payne's contemporary folk tunes--spinning out gripping yarns of pirates, hobbits, spacemen, and more, in voicings that range from high folk to big funk--have established Payne and his band (The Sam Payne Project) as a perennial favorite of audiences around the west. Visit him online at www.sampayne.com. The press has said of Sam Payne's music: "Payne is one of those few musicians who can successfully combine both songwriting and stage performing. He can write poignant and meaningful lyrics, combine them with a melodic hook, and perform them in a voice that makes you want to close your eyes and drift away."