Character Card #1: Samson M. Campbell
Samson M. Campbell had the unfortunate misery of being born a mouse. But the delightful gift of being born with the soul of a bluegrass banjo player. And he made the most of it
As a child, Samson took lessons where he could: television, radio, through the walls at Bob’s Music Barn and Steakhouse. But as he aged, his passion for the banjo isolated him from other mice. Eventually, he had no choice but to take to the road.
Fate ultimately had something else in store for him. Something shaped like a stage.
Samson plays a custom, super-mini sized Cloverfoot banjo that was given to him by his musical mentor, Earl P. Taytow. Samson and Earl met at a KFC in Sweetwater, Tennessee while they were both touring with the Cornelius Red Savage Planet Bluegrass Quintet (Earl as a band member, and Samson as a stowaway).
After an awkward, seventeen-minute introduction to Cornelius Red, Samson was asked to tour with the band. For three years he honed his technique, and eventually received billing as a solo act beneath the Savage Planet Quintet. He has since taken up residency as the house banjo player for the Dixon Opry and Summer Musical Theatre in Dixon, Kentucky.
Samson hasn’t lost his wanderlust. Every day at 5:00 am, he can be found gazing out a window and singing to himself, “I hear the road calling…”
