Sean Kelly has been leading the Samples for more than 20 years. And in those two decades the band has seen more ups and downs than a beach ball in a kiddie pool.
The true-to-the-core independent band was seduced by a major label, Arista, in 1989, and then MCA lured the group into a contract in the mid-1990s. Creative-control struggles ensued until band members were able to free themselves of corporate shackles.
And there have been plenty of lineup changes; Kelly is the sole original member.
The current lineup is Kelly as guitarist and vocalist, drummer Billy Mutchler, bassist Jared Johnson, keyboardist Karl Dietel and guitarist Dan Blondin.
If that's not enough, during a recent tour the band's management team abandoned the group. Kelly said that incident is "still being investigated."
Despite all these pit stops, Kelly has kept the Samples moving. "As a musician, you do find yourself doubting your choice in life," Kelly said by phone from Burlington, Vt. "But that's the nature of the beast. I mean there wasn't any other profession I could have done. I have a lot of learning disabilities. I'm dyslexic, and some of my teachers actually called me mentally retarded when I was 8. I finally dropped out of high school when I was 16 and jumped into the whole construction/pizza making route."
However, music found its way into Kelly's life. "From an early age, I found myself losing myself in the stories by John Denver. And then I discovered Neil Young. I realized that you didn't have to be handsome to make good music."
While Kelly has had no formal training, he has made his living with music. "I feel the band is like a little plant in a corner of a great big greenhouse. We're small but strong — like a cactus. We can survive in the most hostile, arid environments."
With more than 14 studio albums, a handful of live albums and an extended-play, Kelly said the Samples still have a few years left. "I'm currently writing songs for the new album. I'm also posting some of our own video clips on youtube.com. I'm amazed at how much we have done. Going through those videos brings back memories. And they show all we have accomplished.
"As for getting new songs ready for the new album, which I hope will be released later this year, I realized I didn't want to write about the negative side of life. It would be easy to write about depressing things. I want to write about positive things. I'm into Mother Earth. I'm into helping us, who are these organisms living on this ball in the universe, make sense of it all.
"And I want to help people understand that something is happening to the world. I mean, there are icebergs melting in the north and a ton of snow is being dumped in Colorado and there is virtually no snow up here in Vermont. There's something going on. And if we're not careful, we could lose it all."
If you go
What: The Samples
Where: Deer Valley Resort, Deer Valley
When: Tonight, 7 p.m.
How much: Free
E-mail: scott@desnews.com