Music Career
Sampson attended Riverview Rural High School in the late 1980s. He joined Realworld in the early 1990s with brothers Jamie Foulds and Matthew Foulds. The group released one self-titled CD that featured local radio hits "Angels", "Throwin' It All Away" and "We All Need". He was also a member of the house band on Rita MacNeil's weekly CBC show Rita and Friends. He has produced and co-written Damhnait Doyle's Davnet, and Natalie MacMaster's In My Hands albums.
Sampson has written songs which have been recorded by Faith Hill ("Paris"), Trace Adkins ("Words Get in the Way"), Carolyn Dawn Johnson ("Crybaby"), Aaron Lines ("Seeing Things"), Great Big Sea ("Lucky Me", "Let it Go") and George Canyon ("My Name", "Happy Man"). His song "Jesus, Take the Wheel", co-written with Brett James and Hillary Lindsey, was recorded by former American Idol winner Carrie Underwood and released in 2005. Sampson has commented that the song was inspired by a story told to him by an aunt regarding the death of an acquaintance in a car accident in Nova Scotia.
Since "Jesus, Take the Wheel", Sampson has co-written songs with other Nashville performers including LeAnn Rimes ("Long Night", "Save Myself"), and Bon Jovi ("Any Other Day") for that band's 2007 album Lost Highway. He also spent time writing with Keith Urban. Urban has recorded his song, "You (Or Somebody Like You)" on his European release of the album, "Days Go By."
Sampson has released four CDs as a solo artist. His debut solo album, Stones (1998), was nominated for a Juno Award. He also received an East Coast Music Award for the single "Sorry", and is a former John Lennon Songwriting Contest finalist. His second CD, Sunburn (2004), was largely written in partnership with Troy Verges and Blair Daly. Sampson produced the CD and played the majority of the instruments on Sunburn including guitars, bass, drums and piano. The album was recorded at Lakewind Sound Studios in Point Aconi, Nova Scotia, which he co-owns with Fred Lavery, as well as in studios in Toronto and Nashville. For The Few And Far Between was released in 2008, and was nominated for a 2009 Juno Award and was the recipient of two East Coast Music Awards.
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