Sam Payne was born in Provo to a couple of folk singers and raised in the shadow of the Wasatch Mountains. The son of troubadour and actor Marvin Payne, he grew up to study jazz and theater in college, which took him to stages from West Coast Universities to the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Payne writes and performs with a number of projects, including the locally acclaimed "The Utah Jazz Quintet," but it is perhaps with his original music that color country audiences most identify. Payne's contemporary folk tunes--spinning out gripping yarns of pirates, hobbits, spacemen, and kidnappings, in voicings that range from high folk to grand funk--have established him as a perennial favorite of audiences around the west. Payne is backed these days by drummer Steve Flaig, premier guitarist Steve Lemmon, and wunderkind bassist Ryan Tilby.

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."