“Impatience Is One of My Best Qualities”: Sam Burchfield on Change, Fatherhood, Self-Discovery, & the Ways ‘Nature Speaks’ to Him

‘Nature Speaks,’ singer/songwriter Sam Burchfield’s soul-stirring sixth album, is a product of comfort in the midst of hardship – an intimate collection of indie folk reflections that find light in vulnerability and calm amid the wild rhythms of life.

Stream: ‘Nature Speaks’ (singles) – Sam Burchfield

Nature speaks to us in ways we may not understand, but it moves us nonetheless.

In a world surrounded with outdoor beauty, we must look within and reflect. Singer/songwriter Sam Burchfield’s upcoming sixth album, Nature Speaks, is a fully representative embodiment of returning to roots and recentering.

“Just before we recorded, I was in New York City on tour, my wife was at home, pregnant with our second child,” the indie folk artist tells Atwood Magazine. “I was taking a walk through Washington Square Park, feeling this hyper-vivid awareness of the beauty of the city, and at the same time, this intense pain of being away from my family.”

In the midst of this emotional turmoil, Burchfield listened to an all too familiar favorite. Flashbacks emerged as he heard a man playing piano in public; it was the tune his partner walked down the aisle to at their wedding. The experience served as a reminder that loved ones remain close to the heart, even when there’s geographical distance.

“It felt like walking through a portal,” Burchfield admits.

This moment brought the musician back to his utmost place of belonging – a memory of time spent with his family in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Burchfield has been releasing music since 2014, yet his latest LP carries a newfound sense of confidence. As he began to find himself, the South Carolina-born, Georgia-based native curated an album that symbolizes his growth.

 “Truthfully, it’s been a long journey toward artistic identity,” he shares. “I’ve learned a lot about living into yourself, discovering who you are by simply being.”

“Morning Light,” one of the latest singles from the album, conveys his role of parenthood from a different perspective. The song is somber and comforting, written as a personal dialogue to coping with change.

“There is always something to sacrifice in the present in order to create a future,” Burchfield says. “And in many ways, I used music to parent myself through all the changes.”

All your doubts and your fears
All your hate and your tears
Everything

Always forgiving yesterday

Like grace and sin
Like life and death
Both in your chest

“Capturing and connecting with humanity is why I make music,” he adds. “This album is more human than anything I’ve done before.”

Set to release October 24^th via Cloverdale Records, Nature Speaks is the calm within the chaos, a truly authentic album centered around family, self-identity, and home: The things that remind Sam Burchfield of life’s beauty. Read our interview below and stay tuned for the album’s release later this month!

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:: stream/purchase Nature Speaks here ::

:: connect with Sam Burchfield here ::

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Stream: “Morning Light” – Sam Burchfield

A CONVERSATION WITH SAM BURCHFIELD

Sam Burchfield: The real question is, how often do I actually listen! Most of the time it’s the sunset telling me to slow down, or the grass telling me to rest, or my dog telling me to get outside. There’s sort of this quiet beckoning that I’m always feeling from nature. On the deepest level, it’s asking to be witnessed and to asking to witness me.

Sam Burchfield: I was just going through a really hard time. Dealing with health issues, mental health, relational struggles, being a new father and wrestling with my identity. It just came through in a lot of the music.

Sam Burchfield: This was a super stripped down and super live album. Me and my bud Ryan Plumley just went in the studio in Athens with engineer guru Jason Kingsland. Other than Graveyard Flower, this is the only other album where I didn’t go in with a band backing me in some capacity. We didn’t really have expectations of what we would even get done in that time, just needed to get something out. I was also sick getting over the flu or something, so it was a pretty rocky moment and luckily the guys helped keep me positive and get through it. I think the stripped-down intimate nature of the recording process definitely created a very different album from my last few.

Sam Burchfield: Definitely. I know it’s a cliche, but having kids really has pushed my wife and I to grow and mature in a way I couldn’t have anticipated. I feel like all your baggage really bubbles up because of the added stress- which is really hard but ultimately really good! I think for this album, becoming a father has just made me feel like a deeper version of myself. Or more comfortable in who I am maybe? I think this album definitely reflects that. It just feels more honest to who I am deep down.

Sam Burchfield: Impatience is one of my best qualities, I’m sure. Yeah, I also feel like I have a pretty good intuition, and a lot of times I can feel change coming and those are the hardest times to be patient no doubt.

Sam Burchfield: I was just feeling like I could be a better partner, a better father, a better human. And I was so exhausted and tired from a heavy year of touring, from working through really hard relationship challenges etc. And yeah, I had been dealing with a health scare that had me confronting my own death and trying to walk through it and make peace with it. All of that kind of came out in this stream of conscious moment in the basement of Ryan’s sister’s house on the road in Pittsburgh.

Sam Burchfield: Yeah, my music is most certainly always changing. You can look at my past albums and see how it’s been all over the place from different sounds and genres. I think as people we are always spiraling into deeper versions of ourselves, which is also like an unraveling of self at the same time. And for me, my music is pretty personal and reflective of who I am and what I’m going through. I’m still on that journey without a doubt.

Sam Burchfield: I think I rediscover my spark through getting outside or stepping outside of routine. And just being super present, especially with my kids. Seeing my 6-month-old have a big ol’ joyful smile really changes perspective on everything. And my 3-year-old just has the most active imagination, it’s beautiful. To be honest I don’t really have a routine, I sometimes crave one but my life is really different day to day with touring and home life. I do feel the rhythm of different seasons though, whether that is a literal season of nature or just a season of touring / being home.

Sam Burchfield: I’m a sucker for Christmas. And I get it, there’s so much empty tradition and commercialism in it but there is nothing like having a cozy cup of coffee in your living room with Vince Guaraldi on and all the Christmas lights glowing.

Sam Burchfield: For sure. Really digging Leif Vollebekk lately. The latest Dr Dog album as well. My son is obsessed with Johnny Cash right now so a lot of him, always listening to solo McCartney / Wings stuff. Polo Y Pan, Aerosmith and Van Halen are dance party favs before bedtime in the Burchfield house too.”

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Vulnerability translates into respectability, relatability, and true connection, which are all true in terms of Nature Speaks.

Struggle isn’t seen as the product of being weak, rather the result of staying strong during rough patches. Sam Burchfield’s upcoming project reminds listeners that there’s joy in the midst of hardship as he passionately writes about life’s treasures. Stay tuned for the full album, out October 24 via Cloverdale Records!

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:: stream/purchase Nature Speaks here ::

:: connect with Sam Burchfield here ::

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