2 hours
Bo Diddley's Deli, 129 25th Avenue South, Saint Cloud, MN, USA
Starting at USD 29
Fri, 15 May, 2026 at 07:00 pm to 09:00 pm (GMT-05:00)
Bo Diddley's Deli, 129 25th Avenue South, Saint Cloud, USA
129 25th Avenue South, St. Cloud, United States
Sam Robbins is often described as an "old soul singer songwriter." A New England based, nationally touring musician whose music evokes classic singer songwriters like James Taylor and Jackson Browne, Sam adds a modern, upbeat edge to the storyteller troubadour persona. An avid performer, he has gained recognition from extensive national touring, from sharing the stage with artists like Jason Mraz and David Wilcox, and as a main stage performer at national festivals like the Kerrville, Falcon Ridge and Wheatland Festivals.
Touring with a new acclaimed album, βSo Much I Still Donβt Seeβ, named one of Atwood Magazineβs 2025 βArtists to Watchβ, leading songwriting workshops and exciting performances across the country, Sam Robbins has gained a reputation as one of the brightest rising stars in the national folk music community.
Sam Robbinsβ third album So Much I Still Donβt See is a testament to a singer songwriterβs journey through his 20βs, through his formative years of 45,000 miles per year touring and the beginning of a troubadourβs career. Most of all, it is the culmination of firsthand experiences gathered through hard travel and big adventures.
For the listener, these big adventures are heard through a soft, introspective soundscape. Produced by singer songwriter Seth Glier, the album is built sparingly around solo acoustic guitar and vocals, tracked live, just as they are performed live on stage. Recorded in an old church in Springfield, MA, the sounds of So Much I Still Donβt See center around the humility that comes with traveling and experiencing a world much larger than yourself β looking inward and reveling in the quiet of the inner mind while facing an expansive landscape of life on the road. The storytelling in the songs is draped with touches of upright bass, keyboards, organ, and electric guitar, but the core of the album is one man and his worn out Martin guitar, bought new just a few years ago a week after moving to Nashville.
The sonic landscape of So Much I Still Donβt See was largely inspired by the recordings of James Taylor, Jim Croce, Harry Chapin and singer songwriters of the like. Growing up in New Hampshire, Robbins would frequently drive up to the white mountains for weekend hiking trips with his father, accompanied in the old truck by a 70βs singer songwriter CD box set. This music seeped into Robbinsβ soul and coupled with experiencing the mountain landscape of his childhood, this βold soul singer songwriterβ was shaped by these recordings and the direct, soft and exacting songwriting voices that they exemplified.
The storytelling in So Much I Still Donβt See is built through small moments, as seen in such lyrics as βstuck in line behind Gladys at the grocery store/smiling as she shows me a new doll for her granddaughterβ, the opening line from the title track, and βIβm standing in the sunlight in a public park in Tennessee/ and I know the soft earth below has always made room for meβ, from the opening track, βPiles of Sandβ, and βthe Hooters parking lots are all shining so brightβ, from the upbeat, Chet Atkins inspired βThe Real Thingβ.
After a brief stint on NBCβs The Voice in 2018, Robbins graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2019 and quickly made his move down to Nashville. After a tumultuous five years in Music City, So Much I Still Donβt See is the first recording made after moving back to the Boston area in early 2024. After trying his hand at co-writing country songs five days a week, Robbins found his way to a home on the road, now performing over 200 shows per year in listening rooms and festivals across the country.
Growing prowess on acoustic guitar through the years of touring has earned Robbins a large fanbase of fingerstyle guitar fans, and So Much I Still Donβt See is his first album that includes an original instrumental track, βRosieβ, named after his wifeβs middle name. The song, a transitional moment midway through the album, was written in a painterβs style β following a melodic line through to itβs end, and changing chord colors around the line as it flows.
This foray into instrumental writing comes as Robbins is increasingly being recognized as a strong voice in US fingerstyle guitar playing, not just as an accompanist to his vocal.
This touring and subsequent songwriting growth has led to several awards and festival performances, making Robbins a 2021 Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk contest winner, a 2022 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival βMost Wanted to Returnβ artist, and later a solo mainstage performer at each festival in 2023 and 2024. Robbins has expanded his touring to festivals nationwide, including the Wheatland Festival in Michigan, the Fox Valley Folk Music and Storytelling Festival in Chicago and has earned a title as βOne of the most promising new songwriters of his generationβ β Mike Davies, Fateau Magazine, UK
In early 2023, Robbins was gifted Marcus Aureliusβs βMeditationsβ, a collection of the Roman Emperorβs diaries in the early 100βs AD. The ideas from this book, centered around the concepts of stoicism, seeped into the songs of So Much I Still Donβt See Much of the album reflects on the inner peace found through stoic philosophy that was discovered in reading this book throughout the past year on the road.
The light, upbeat Buddy Holly sound of βAll So Importantβ works hand in hand with the lyrics, which are a meditation on this philosophy, and the sense that we are all just grains of sand in a larger universe. Verse lyrics such as βA bronze bust of a Roman ruler, emperor of everywhere the sun could shine/ thought his name would live on forever/but now you can only read it if you squint your eyesβ are followed by a simple repetition of the sarcastic chorus, βitβs all so, all so importantβ.
Another influence on the songwriting of So Much I Still Donβt See is Robbinsβ work with the group Music Therapy Retreats. This is the first recording made after starting his work with the organization, which pairs songwriters with veterans to help write their often unheard and inspiring stories into songs. This life changing and life-affirming experience has drawn out deeper emotions and deeper stories in Robbinsβ own writing and music, inspired by the open hearts and stories of the veterans he is lucky to work with.
The final moment of So Much I Still Donβt See is a quiet, serene moment with Halley Neal, nationally touring singer songwriter and Robbinsβ fiancΓ©. The two have led separate careers after meeting at Berklee College of Music, coming together when the moment is right. As the tenth and final track, the soft, one-take, one-mic cover of The Beatlesβ βI Willβ was recorded on the last day of recording on a cheap nylon string guitar found in the corner of the studio. The short and sweet love song is a simple finish on the introspective and warm album, spotlighting the true spirit of So Much I Still Donβt See β calmness and simplicity, always looking forward to the future.
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Tickets for Sam Robbins can be booked here.
Ticket type | Ticket price |
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General Admission | 29 USD |