December 7, 2023 • 12 mins
For this Community Spotlight, we talked with Sam Gleaves, a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who directs the Bluegrass Music Ensemble at Berea College and also the Bluegrass and Old Time Music Ensemble at UK. In this interview, we talk about music, community, and belonging.
Find out more about Sam Gleaves online.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
ERIN:
Hello. (00:04):
undefined
CALLIE: I'm Callie. (00:06):
undefined
SARA: And I’m Sara. (00:07):
undefined
ERIN: And this is Community (00:08):
undefined
Spotlight with Callie and Sara.
CALLIE: We are students in the College (00:12):
undefined
and Career Studies program at UK.
SARA: This radio segment (00:16):
undefined
will spotlight
different things
in the local community each week.
CALLIE: Thank you for listening. (00:22):
undefined
SARA: For our Community (00:30):
undefined
Spotlight today,
we are talking with Sam Gleaves.
A singer, songwriter and instrumentalist
who directs the Bluegrass Music Ensemble
at Berea College, and also the Bluegrass
and Old Time Music Ensemble at UK.
We had the pleasure of seeing the Berea
(00:53):
Bluegrass Ensemble perform recently
at the Niles Gallery on UK’s campus,
and it was a great performance.
Sam, thank you for being with us.
SAM: It is great to meet you, Callie and Sara. (01:06):
undefined
I'm glad to be with you.
CALLIE: What is (01:12):
undefined
your favorite type of music to play?
SAM: I grew up in southwestern Virginia (01:16):
undefined
and I love old time Appalachian music,
which is the old dance tunes
and ballads and old fashioned songs,
songs from the Carter
family and musicians who played the banjo
(01:36):
and the fiddle and the guitar
and all of that good stuff
from the Appalachian Mountain area.
That's my favorite type of music to play.
SARA: What is your favorite type of music (01:45):
undefined
to listen to when you're not playing?
SAM: Well, I like various kinds of music, (01:55):
undefined
you know, I enjoy
a lot of the hard hitting, powerful
women country singers like Dolly Parton
and Loretta Lynn.
And I don't play strictly country music,
but I love
a lot of the country music from,
(02:16):
you know,
like the 1940s on up to the present day.
I would say that's probably my favorite.
But I like rock and roll
and I like blues and other genres, too.
I love singer songwriters
like Joni Mitchell.
And so those are some things I like
to listen to.
CALLIE: Do you (02:36):
undefined
ever listen to a lot of styles of music
like with the guitar, bass, and drum?
SAM: Yeah, yeah I love the band Heart, (02:43):
undefined
so that's a great rock
and roll band that,
you know, has all of those instruments.
And just today, Dolly Parton
released a rock and roll album.
So I'm going to listen to that
at some point over the weekend.
CALLIE: Have you ever played in a rock band? (03:01):
undefined
SAM: I did. (03:04):
undefined
In high school,
I did play in a rock band, absolutely.
All my friends in high school
played heavy metal,
and so I had a trio
with two of my other friends.
We played Led Zeppelin songs.
It was really, really fun.
And I used to play the banjo
sometimes and the guitar in that band.
CALLIE: Who taught you to play and sing? (03:26):
undefined
SAM: I had a great teacher (03:30):
undefined
when I was a teenager.
His name was Jim Lloyd
and he taught me to play the banjo
and the guitar.
Got me started on the fiddle
and the mandolin too
and then he introduced me
to other musicians that he knew
and that were his friends.
And they became my teachers, too,
like Sheila Kay
(03:51):
Adams, who was a great singer of ballads
and the old story songs
from the British Isles.
And then I just learned
from so many people over the years.
Ginny Hawker and Kay Justice.
Sue Massek
and all the members of the Real World
String band.
(04:12):
There's just too many to count.
People have been very generous
in teaching me.
Oh, and Al White at Berea College.
He was a huge mentor to me.
He directed the Bluegrass Ensemble,
which I was part of for four years.
And so Al has been a great mentor
and friend.
SARA: We have (04:29):
undefined
been talking a lot lately
about the importance
of belonging
and having a connection with community.
Do you feel that music has given
you a sense of belonging?
SAM: I do feel that music has given me (04:45):
undefined
a sense of belonging.
I just realized when you asked me
who taught you to play and sing,
I couldn't name just one person.
I had to name a dozen people because
I was so fortunate that through music
I had this opportunity
(05:05):
to meet
extraordinary people
who were very kind and generous
and had a wealth of knowledge to share.
And I'm grateful for that to this day.
You know, a lot of times
you'll go to music festivals or concerts
and anywhere
that there is more than one
musician or two musicians
(05:26):
gathered together, you'll often
see that people
just sort of step to the side
and start playing music together
or start talking about music.
And that, I think, is beautiful.
You know,
you can make friends
that you never would have imagined
that you would have
anything in common with.
I think music has given
me a sense of belonging
(05:47):
because it's enabled me
to make friends with people
who are very different
than me, who believe different things,
who have different
political views or religious
convictions or, you know,
through music that's like a, music
is a third space where we can connect
(06:07):
and we don't have to think
about how different we are.
We can just think about
what we have in common
and I'm very grateful for that.
ERIN: Thank you. (06:16):
undefined
These are such good responses
to these questions.
And you mentioned Dolly Parton
and she like
music in
general, is the great unifier,
is she not, of
so many people relate to her
and so many people relate to music,
even if so many other things about them
are different.
So I'm really glad
that you brought up
(06:36):
that people can connect
through things like art music,
even if they're very different otherwise,
and they have other different
views from each other.
ERIN: Another thing we've (06:45):
undefined
been talking about a lot
in the last
semester is about universal design
for learning.
And one element of that
is that it's easier
for people to learn something
if they engage in things
they are already interested in.
Do you think music is something
that can help people learn other things?
I remember in school, you know,
(07:05):
I've always
been a very big fan of music
and responded immediately to music
ever since I can remember.
And I remember
figuring out
eventually that I was a rhythm learner
and making up songs
or tapping rhythms helps me
remember information
that I'm otherwise
not very easily able to remember.
But if it's like in a rhythm
or a rhyme or something like that,
(07:25):
I can remember it for years.
So that's one example.
But just in general,
do you think music is something
that can help
people engage with other things
or learn other things as well?
SAM: Absolutely. (07:35):
undefined
I think that humans have used music
as a learning tool
for thousands of years.
And what you were saying, Erin, really
makes sense to me because I learned
a lot of narrative ballads
when I was in high school and
and in my early twenties,
(07:55):
and they are etched into my memory.
A lot of times when I could not tell you
what I had for breakfast,
I could sing 12 verses of a song.
And that is just a testament to how
when you put melody and rhythm
and lyrics together,
there's something that’s magic
that happens that some of our brains
just love and just really latch on to.
(08:18):
And in my teaching
at Berea College, I'm mostly teaching
one on one applied lessons in
mandolin or fiddle or banjo and guitar.
And so I have a very short
period of time
at the beginning of a semester
to get to know students.
And one of the things
(08:39):
I always want to know
when I first meet with a student is
what do you love to do?
What what gets you excited about life?
And so they might say sports,
or they might say, I'm
in an
activist group on campus,
or I'm in a dance group, or I do yoga or,
you know,
I am a creative writer,
(08:59):
whatever they say.
I try to relate things,
concepts from our music lessons
to what they're already interested in.
And sometimes if students
come from a cultural background, like
I have some students
who are Spanish speakers,
you know,
I say, “Well,
find me
a song in Spanish
that you love and play it for me.
(09:20):
Play the recording for me,
and we'll see if we can work on it.
” Or a student
whose family is from Nepal
and he speaks Hindi.
And so he brought in a song in Hindi.
I've found that
so much more
successful than me
trying to just select what the material
that I teach,
but to let the students have a choice.
ERIN: Thank you so much. (09:42):
undefined
That's really good to hear.
SARA: Some people like to find a job (09:46):
undefined
or career related to their interests,
but other people
might choose to have a job
that is more simple just to earn money
and then spend their personal time
exploring their interests.
You participate in it both for work
(10:08):
and for fun.
How do you keep a balance
between the work part
and the fun part of music?
SAM: That's an excellent question, (10:18):
undefined
and I think this is a challenge
for any artist that pursues
their art as their profession.
I think that every day
looks different for me.
You know,
if I know that
I'm going to have a lot of administrative
work in a day,
you know,
where I'm going to have to be
in front of my computer typing, emailing,
(10:41):
you know, writing a report, so on.
I try to think about
what makes it worth it to me, you know,
and what makes it worth it
are the students that I work
with are exceptional people
at UK and at Berea,
and I get to see them shine.
I get to see them grow and learn,
and we laugh together
and we talk about meaningful
(11:02):
things that are happening in our lives.
And sometimes we travel
and perform together,
those are the things
that get me through the
the work part, right?
And there is a lot of fun
to be had playing music
and also there's fun
in challenging yourself
and learning new things
that you didn't think you could do
(11:22):
musically.
And I love that part.
But if I have a day where I'm going
to be doing a ton of administrative work,
I try to think
what's going to be my reward for myself
on that day?
You know,
maybe it's I'm going
to sit down at the piano
for 30 minutes
and just play whatever I want to play,
or maybe I'm going to take a long walk
and listen to my audiobook
(11:43):
or work on a quilt or something.
Those
those are the things that bring me joy.
So you have to make time for your own joy
and take care of yourself
because that will sustain you
through the hard work that you do.
I'm sure that you all know
that as students.
SARA: Thank you so much for talking with us. (12:01):
undefined
SAMIt's been a pleasure to talk with you.
And who knows?
I might see you on campus one day.
ERINI hope so for sure.
SAMReally nice to meet you,
Callie and Sara, and see you around.
ERINAll right, thanks.
SARAH (12:15):
Sam.
Thank you for being with us.
Sam Gleaves, a singer songwriter
and instrumentalist
who directs the Bluegrass Music Ensemble
at Berea College.
And also the Bluegrass and Old Time music
ensemble at UK.
(12:39):
This has
been Community
Spotlight with Callie and Sara.
CALLIE: Thank you for listening. (12:43):
undefined
undefined
CALLIE: I'm Callie. (00:06):
undefined
SARA: And I’m Sara. (00:07):
undefined
ERIN: And this is Community (00:08):
undefined
Spotlight with Callie and Sara.
CALLIE: We are students in the College (00:12):
undefined
and Career Studies program at UK.
SARA: This radio segment (00:16):
undefined
will spotlight
different things
in the local community each week.
CALLIE: Thank you for listening. (00:22):
undefined
SARA: For our Community (00:30):
undefined
Spotlight today,
we are talking with Sam Gleaves.
A singer, songwriter and instrumentalist
who directs the Bluegrass Music Ensemble
at Berea College, and also the Bluegrass
and Old Time Music Ensemble at UK.
We had the pleasure of seeing the Berea
(00:53):
Bluegrass Ensemble perform recently
at the Niles Gallery on UK’s campus,
and it was a great performance.
Sam, thank you for being with us.
SAM: It is great to meet you, Callie and Sara. (01:06):
undefined
I'm glad to be with you.
CALLIE: What is (01:12):
undefined
your favorite type of music to play?
SAM: I grew up in southwestern Virginia (01:16):
undefined
and I love old time Appalachian music,
which is the old dance tunes
and ballads and old fashioned songs,
songs from the Carter
family and musicians who played the banjo
(01:36):
and the fiddle and the guitar
and all of that good stuff
from the Appalachian Mountain area.
That's my favorite type of music to play.
SARA: What is your favorite type of music (01:45):
undefined
to listen to when you're not playing?
SAM: Well, I like various kinds of music, (01:55):
undefined
you know, I enjoy
a lot of the hard hitting, powerful
women country singers like Dolly Parton
and Loretta Lynn.
And I don't play strictly country music,
but I love
a lot of the country music from,
(02:16):
you know,
like the 1940s on up to the present day.
I would say that's probably my favorite.
But I like rock and roll
and I like blues and other genres, too.
I love singer songwriters
like Joni Mitchell.
And so those are some things I like
to listen to.
CALLIE: Do you (02:36):
undefined
ever listen to a lot of styles of music
like with the guitar, bass, and drum?
SAM: Yeah, yeah I love the band Heart, (02:43):
undefined
so that's a great rock
and roll band that,
you know, has all of those instruments.
And just today, Dolly Parton
released a rock and roll album.
So I'm going to listen to that
at some point over the weekend.
CALLIE: Have you ever played in a rock band? (03:01):
undefined
SAM: I did. (03:04):
undefined
In high school,
I did play in a rock band, absolutely.
All my friends in high school
played heavy metal,
and so I had a trio
with two of my other friends.
We played Led Zeppelin songs.
It was really, really fun.
And I used to play the banjo
sometimes and the guitar in that band.
CALLIE: Who taught you to play and sing? (03:26):
undefined
SAM: I had a great teacher (03:30):
undefined
when I was a teenager.
His name was Jim Lloyd
and he taught me to play the banjo
and the guitar.
Got me started on the fiddle
and the mandolin too
and then he introduced me
to other musicians that he knew
and that were his friends.
And they became my teachers, too,
like Sheila Kay
(03:51):
Adams, who was a great singer of ballads
and the old story songs
from the British Isles.
And then I just learned
from so many people over the years.
Ginny Hawker and Kay Justice.
Sue Massek
and all the members of the Real World
String band.
(04:12):
There's just too many to count.
People have been very generous
in teaching me.
Oh, and Al White at Berea College.
He was a huge mentor to me.
He directed the Bluegrass Ensemble,
which I was part of for four years.
And so Al has been a great mentor
and friend.
SARA: We have (04:29):
undefined
been talking a lot lately
about the importance
of belonging
and having a connection with community.
Do you feel that music has given
you a sense of belonging?
SAM: I do feel that music has given me (04:45):
undefined
a sense of belonging.
I just realized when you asked me
who taught you to play and sing,
I couldn't name just one person.
I had to name a dozen people because
I was so fortunate that through music
I had this opportunity
(05:05):
to meet
extraordinary people
who were very kind and generous
and had a wealth of knowledge to share.
And I'm grateful for that to this day.
You know, a lot of times
you'll go to music festivals or concerts
and anywhere
that there is more than one
musician or two musicians
(05:26):
gathered together, you'll often
see that people
just sort of step to the side
and start playing music together
or start talking about music.
And that, I think, is beautiful.
You know,
you can make friends
that you never would have imagined
that you would have
anything in common with.
I think music has given
me a sense of belonging
(05:47):
because it's enabled me
to make friends with people
who are very different
than me, who believe different things,
who have different
political views or religious
convictions or, you know,
through music that's like a, music
is a third space where we can connect
(06:07):
and we don't have to think
about how different we are.
We can just think about
what we have in common
and I'm very grateful for that.
ERIN: Thank you. (06:16):
undefined
These are such good responses
to these questions.
And you mentioned Dolly Parton
and she like
music in
general, is the great unifier,
is she not, of
so many people relate to her
and so many people relate to music,
even if so many other things about them
are different.
So I'm really glad
that you brought up
(06:36):
that people can connect
through things like art music,
even if they're very different otherwise,
and they have other different
views from each other.
ERIN: Another thing we've (06:45):
undefined
been talking about a lot
in the last
semester is about universal design
for learning.
And one element of that
is that it's easier
for people to learn something
if they engage in things
they are already interested in.
Do you think music is something
that can help people learn other things?
I remember in school, you know,
(07:05):
I've always
been a very big fan of music
and responded immediately to music
ever since I can remember.
And I remember
figuring out
eventually that I was a rhythm learner
and making up songs
or tapping rhythms helps me
remember information
that I'm otherwise
not very easily able to remember.
But if it's like in a rhythm
or a rhyme or something like that,
(07:25):
I can remember it for years.
So that's one example.
But just in general,
do you think music is something
that can help
people engage with other things
or learn other things as well?
SAM: Absolutely. (07:35):
undefined
I think that humans have used music
as a learning tool
for thousands of years.
And what you were saying, Erin, really
makes sense to me because I learned
a lot of narrative ballads
when I was in high school and
and in my early twenties,
(07:55):
and they are etched into my memory.
A lot of times when I could not tell you
what I had for breakfast,
I could sing 12 verses of a song.
And that is just a testament to how
when you put melody and rhythm
and lyrics together,
there's something that’s magic
that happens that some of our brains
just love and just really latch on to.
(08:18):
And in my teaching
at Berea College, I'm mostly teaching
one on one applied lessons in
mandolin or fiddle or banjo and guitar.
And so I have a very short
period of time
at the beginning of a semester
to get to know students.
And one of the things
(08:39):
I always want to know
when I first meet with a student is
what do you love to do?
What what gets you excited about life?
And so they might say sports,
or they might say, I'm
in an
activist group on campus,
or I'm in a dance group, or I do yoga or,
you know,
I am a creative writer,
(08:59):
whatever they say.
I try to relate things,
concepts from our music lessons
to what they're already interested in.
And sometimes if students
come from a cultural background, like
I have some students
who are Spanish speakers,
you know,
I say, “Well,
find me
a song in Spanish
that you love and play it for me.
(09:20):
Play the recording for me,
and we'll see if we can work on it.
” Or a student
whose family is from Nepal
and he speaks Hindi.
And so he brought in a song in Hindi.
I've found that
so much more
successful than me
trying to just select what the material
that I teach,
but to let the students have a choice.
ERIN: Thank you so much. (09:42):
undefined
That's really good to hear.
SARA: Some people like to find a job (09:46):
undefined
or career related to their interests,
but other people
might choose to have a job
that is more simple just to earn money
and then spend their personal time
exploring their interests.
You participate in it both for work
(10:08):
and for fun.
How do you keep a balance
between the work part
and the fun part of music?
SAM: That's an excellent question, (10:18):
undefined
and I think this is a challenge
for any artist that pursues
their art as their profession.
I think that every day
looks different for me.
You know,
if I know that
I'm going to have a lot of administrative
work in a day,
you know,
where I'm going to have to be
in front of my computer typing, emailing,
(10:41):
you know, writing a report, so on.
I try to think about
what makes it worth it to me, you know,
and what makes it worth it
are the students that I work
with are exceptional people
at UK and at Berea,
and I get to see them shine.
I get to see them grow and learn,
and we laugh together
and we talk about meaningful
(11:02):
things that are happening in our lives.
And sometimes we travel
and perform together,
those are the things
that get me through the
the work part, right?
And there is a lot of fun
to be had playing music
and also there's fun
in challenging yourself
and learning new things
that you didn't think you could do
(11:22):
musically.
And I love that part.
But if I have a day where I'm going
to be doing a ton of administrative work,
I try to think
what's going to be my reward for myself
on that day?
You know,
maybe it's I'm going
to sit down at the piano
for 30 minutes
and just play whatever I want to play,
or maybe I'm going to take a long walk
and listen to my audiobook
(11:43):
or work on a quilt or something.
Those
those are the things that bring me joy.
So you have to make time for your own joy
and take care of yourself
because that will sustain you
through the hard work that you do.
I'm sure that you all know
that as students.
SARA: Thank you so much for talking with us. (12:01):
undefined
SAMIt's been a pleasure to talk with you.
And who knows?
I might see you on campus one day.
ERINI hope so for sure.
SAMReally nice to meet you,
Callie and Sara, and see you around.
ERINAll right, thanks.
SARAH (12:15):
Sam.
Thank you for being with us.
Sam Gleaves, a singer songwriter
and instrumentalist
who directs the Bluegrass Music Ensemble
at Berea College.
And also the Bluegrass and Old Time music
ensemble at UK.
(12:39):
This has
been Community
Spotlight with Callie and Sara.
CALLIE: Thank you for listening. (12:43):
undefined
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