The Halifax Urban Folk Festival is back and we couldn’t be happier. HUFF presents The Dave Sampson Band with Toronto’s Civil Wray and our own Jon Cornwall at The Carleton on Monday, August 28th. Show time is 7:30 PM and tickets – available at TicketPro HERE – are $17.50 (including taxes).

Dave Sampson writes heart-on-your-sleeve folk/pop songs, delivered with a captivating and authentic voice that could blow down a brick house. His knack for crafting simple ear-worms and his high-energy shows have been winning him fans across Atlantic Canada for the past three years. Over this time, he has shared the stage and worked with artists such as Classified, Gordie Sampson, Mo Kenney and Ria Mae.

In 2014, Dave released his anticipated debut album No Pressure, No Diamonds with producers/collaborators Carleton Stone, Gordie Sampson and Dylan Guthro (Port Cities). With the released of this album, No Pressure No Diamonds was nominated for Music Nova Scotia’s POP album of the year, reached #1 on the ECC charts twice and received national airplay throughout Canada. Dave was also invited to Germany in 2014 with songwriters Carleton Stone and Breagh Mackinnon to participate in a songwriting retreat followed by a tour.

Fast forward to 2015, Dave’s song No Pressure, No Diamonds was picked up by Canadian Hip Hop icon Classified and released as his first single on the Billboard charts. Currently still charting, the song also features hip-hop legend Snoop Dogg. Dave also received a songwriting nod on Neon Dreams‘ single Love Experts which made it to the Billboard EDM Top 40. Joining forces with Classified has introduced Dave’s music to a fresh new fan base, performing with him at WE DAY which had close to 12,000 people in attendance, CBC first play live session in Toronto and also penning another song on Classifieds album Oh No.

Dave has also been hand-picked as one of Nova Scotia’s most promising young songwriters to take part in the prestigious, invitation-only Gordie Sampson Song Camp for the past 5 years. Through this opportunity, he has been fortunate enough to collaborate with the province’s finest writers: Gordie Sampson, Mo Kenney, Donovan Woods, Port Cities and Neon Dreams.

“Heartfelt, energized and emotional, Dave Sampson has obvious natural talent as a Maritime singer-songwriter. Recommended for fans of Joel Plaskett, David Myles and Hawksley Workman.” – Grant Lawrence (CBC Music)

Not only is Dave Sampson a fantastic singer/songwriter, but his live performance during both shows (as a band and as a solo artist) was second to none. The level of comfort that he and his band have on stage oozes with every movement made.” – HalifaxBloggers.ca @ EAST COAST MUSIC WEEK 2016

“Dave Sampson writes a great, heartfelt pop song and has a warm, inviting, laid-back style that will no doubt appeal to a wide cross-section of people. It’s not hard to imagine his music lighting up the radio and drawing crowds” – The Scope, St. John’s, NL

“Is Dave Sampson Pop, folk or indie? Who cares if the songs are good!”

Civil Wray

Jon Cornwall