Sam Payne
Sam Payne is a Mormon musician who performs as a solist and with his band, The Sam Payne Project. His style has been called "jazz-inflected folk," and people go wild over his original lyrics. He's been called the songwriter's songwriter. He is a premier act in the intermountain west, but has also performed around the nation and internationally.
Payne also writes and produces for radio, and his clients have included Glenn Beck, the popular syndicated radio and television host. Payne is the program director for YourLDSradio.com, the popular online home for contemporary LDS music, and the creator of the Radio Family Journal, a widely-broadcast radio segment featuring thoughts on family and faith.
Sam is son of folk singer and actor Marvin Payne. He grew up to serve a mission to Argentina, after which he returned to marry Kristie Lott, his high school sweetheart. (They now have four boys and live in Lindon, Utah.) He studied jazz and theater in college, which took him to stages from West Coast Universities to the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.
He has taught at Tuacahn (pronounced “TOO-uh-con”) High School for the Performing Arts in St. George, Utah. He holds a degree in English from Weber State University, and a Masters of Education degree from Southern Utah University. He writes books for elementary school students, and has recorded a growing catalog of original music, which he performs before audiences large and small.
More at MormonMusic.org