LEONARDTOWN, Md. — The Leonardtown Summer Music Festival presented Southern Maryland country musician, Sam Grow, in concert last Sunday evening. He brought out the Sam Grow-Whiskey Bound Acoustic Tour (Sam and fellow band member, Alex Seller), where he performed for the first time in Leonardtown Square with an all-acoustic set.

With the weather forecast calling for rain and thunderstorms, the venue shifted in the afternoon. The performance was held under the covered area next to the old Bell Motor Building, across the street from Leonardtown’s Town Hall.

Radio Romance opened the show with an acoustic duo around 5:30 p.m. When the rain came on suddenly at around 6 p.m., the crowd pulled their folding chairs under the pavilion and gathered together, but the music continued.

Sam Grow started his acoustic performance around 6:30 after having dinner with his mom in his childhood home in Mechanicsville. The crowd sang along to the music and listened attentively as the singer told stories about growing up in St. Mary’s County. One of Sam’s many fans later said, “Sam is an amazing storyteller. He has a true gift for connecting with the audience through his stories.”

“I’m a Saint Mary’s county boy. I wouldn’t be who I am today if I didn’t experience what I did growing up right here in Southern Maryland,” Grow said. “A lot of the people here tonight under this roof have been watching me play music since I was 16 years old-in little coffee shops and restaurants and places that didn’t even have live music.”

Grow signed to Nashville-based Average Joes Entertainment and was named to Billboard’s “7 Country Acts To Watch List In 2019” and was pegged by Music Row magazine as “On Board For Strong Bids For Future Stardom.” His 2019 album, “Love and Whiskey,” debuted at #1 on the iTunes Country Albums chart. 

About halfway through the show, Sam sang his brand new song, “You Ain’t Gone,” which has over 60,000 streams in just over a week. He’s also on track to earn his first gold record (over 500,000 downloads) for his hit single, “Song About You”.

Sam showed his appreciation to the crowd and they roared with cheers. He said, “If you’re one of those people that stuck with me my whole life, you absolutely changed my life.” And to all the new fans he said, “You’re a part of the family too. Thank you, guys, so much for giving me the best job in the world.”

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