Love letter to music

COEUR d'ALENE — The path to the top in any industry is rarely a straight line.

The music industry is no exception.

Local musician Sam Leyde, fresh off a show he and his band performed at the Coeur d’Alene Kroc Center on Oct. 1, spoke about his career and the recent show.

“It went really well,” Leyde said.

The Kroc is where Sam and his band, the Sam Leyde Band, did their album release show back in March of 2022.

“It’s a great venue. The audio and the lighting are just next level," Leyde said. "It’s probably the best lighting and sound in the area.”

Growing up about an hour north of Seattle in northwestern Washington, Leyde was almost destined to get into music from the day he was born.

Surrounded by talent on both sides of his family, he drew a lot of inspiration from them.

Leyde explained that both of his grandpas were musicians and his dad worked as an entertainer.

“He (his Grandpa on his dad’s side) had a recurring role on a local comedy show," Leyde said. "…There was a guy named Stan Borrison who had this local TV in the Seattle area and my Grandpa had a couple different characters who he would play on that.”

Leyde’s maternal grandfather was a long-time high school band teacher as well.

Despite the numerous familial temptations to get into entertainment, Leyde didn’t pick up a guitar until he was 18.

“It’s a tale as old as time," he said. "There was this girl."

For help crafting a song for this girl, Leyde went to his dad. After his dad drew out some basic chords, he went to work and created his first song. Unfortunately, it didn’t have the desired effect.

“I played it for her and she said, ‘Oh man, what a nice thing that a friend would do for another friend," Leyde said. "I was like, ‘Totally, buddy…’”

The severe friend-zoning couldn’t keep him down, as it kickstarted his love of music and playing the guitar.

Leyde explained that he refined his talent while playing music in church for most of his life.

For much of that time, he messed around with writing songs, but never fell in love with anything that hit the page or went into a recorder.

That all changed about four years ago when he was sitting in his car and he started coming up with some lines.

“I got my voice memo thing out. I was just driving on I-90 and I’d sing into my phone,” Leyde said. “I’d listen to it the next day and be like, ‘OK, this has some potential. This is actually not bad.”

This moment inspired him to make more music, come up with more lyrics, and then share that content with others.

A few months later, he entered a talent competition at the NYC Piano Bar in downtown Coeur d’Alene (now Duelers Piano Bar) and took home the top prize, which was a free recording day in a local studio.

Leyde would go on to win numerous other local contests such as North Idaho’s Got Talent and the Spokane Songsmith Challenge. This string of accomplishments motivated him to set his sights on a big prize.

In January 2020, he tried out for The Voice with funds won from North Idaho’s Got Talent.

He said that the interview process in Reno was arduous and impersonal.

“It was like six hours waiting in line…then they pull you into this room with a couple producers in there and there’s like 10 of you," Leyde said.

Each person was then allotted 45 seconds to show off what they had.

“I got up, belted out the song I was doing, and sat back down," he said. "Everybody got done and they went, ‘OK, well, thank you guys for coming. Try again next year.’ That was a little disheartening, but life goes on.”

Since then, Leyde has worked at numerous local venues and events, now under the banner of the Same Leyde Band.

“It’s just been great, man," he said. "There’s no ego, no drama. We are all so focused on making this our job.”

In February, the band released the 12-song album, "Big Small Town," which was inspired by a conversation he had with a friend of his from Coeur d’Alene.

Leyde recounted the conversation. His friend said, "The more people that move here, the less I see my friends around."

"And I said, 'Yeah, that's life living in a big small town,'" Leyde said.

After moving to North Idaho in 2015, Leyde has settled in.

“Best decision I’ve ever made,” he said. “I love it here so much. I’ve lived in five states and I never want to be anywhere else. This is definitely home.”

"Big Small Town" can be found on all streaming services.

The band’s next live show is 7 p.m. Saturday at the Knitting Factory in Spokane.