Sam A-Z Bio
Sam Armstrong-Zickefoose was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado. His first musical experiences were playing and performing with his uncles’ bluegrass band. He started out playing guitar with his uncles but was eventually drawn to the banjo. His uncle Brad helped him build his first claw-hammer banjo. From there Sam went on to take guitar lessons from Charlie Hall and attended Charlie’s week-long Roots music camp where he studied with many notable musicians including Matt Flinner, Mark Johnson, Raul Reynoso, Tim May, Kailin Yong and Beppe Gambetta. Afterwards Sam started to study banjo with Jayme Stone which sparked his interest in playing progressive Bluegrass, Jazz and expanding to African and Middle Eastern music.
Sam then enrolled in Santa Fe University of Art and Design, where he was able to hone in on the banjo and its relationship with world music by working with the Balkan/Middle-Eastern music ensemble and Polly Tapia Ferber as well as working with Peter Mugga on traditional Ugandan Music (which led to a performance on stage with the touring group The Spirit of Uganda).
Today you can see sam performing with a number of bands all over the United States. Meadow Mountain is a bluegrass group that brings songwriting and arrangement to the spotlight. Masontown is a progressive bluegrass band that combines impressive instrumental ability with lyricism. Grace Clark Band is fronted by superstar Grace Clark and focuses on her songwriting with lush orchestration. David Burchfield is a singer/songwriter that brings energy, stage performance and close ties to bluegrass all into one show.
Sam Armstrong-Zickefoose was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado. His first musical experiences were playing and performing with his uncles’ bluegrass band. He started out playing guitar with his uncles but was eventually drawn to the banjo. His uncle Brad helped him build his first claw-hammer banjo. From there Sam went on to take guitar lessons from Charlie Hall and attended Charlie’s week-long Roots music camp where he studied with many notable musicians including Matt Flinner, Mark Johnson, Raul Reynoso, Tim May, Kailin Yong and Beppe Gambetta. Afterwards Sam started to study banjo with Jayme Stone which sparked his interest in playing progressive Bluegrass, Jazz and expanding to African and Middle Eastern music.
Sam then enrolled in Santa Fe University of Art and Design, where he was able to hone in on the banjo and its relationship with world music by working with the Balkan/Middle-Eastern music ensemble and Polly Tapia Ferber as well as working with Peter Mugga on traditional Ugandan Music (which led to a performance on stage with the touring group The Spirit of Uganda).
Today you can see sam performing with a number of bands all over the United States. Meadow Mountain is a bluegrass group that brings songwriting and arrangement to the spotlight. Masontown is a progressive bluegrass band that combines impressive instrumental ability with lyricism. Grace Clark Band is fronted by superstar Grace Clark and focuses on her songwriting with lush orchestration. David Burchfield is a singer/songwriter that brings energy, stage performance and close ties to bluegrass all into one show.
