Sam Boer

Sam Boer (M.A., Toronto Metropolitan University) is a musician, writer, and teacher born and raised in Guelph, Ontario.

Performing avant-folk music under the name Samson Wrote, he released his second LP, In Season, in 2025. Samson Wrote has toured Canada and Europe, has been nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award, and his debut album was praised by Exclaim! as “prolific and expansive.”

Sam Boer also co-directs (with Jake Schindler) The Uncommon Folk Collective, a music-forward contemporary theatre group, whose first original musical Ursa: A Folk Musical (co-created with composer/songwriter Jake Schindler), was praised by The Guardian and The WholeNote. It has been presented at the Toronto Fringe’s NextStage Festival, the Stratford Festival, the Kingston Grand Theatre (as part of the 2022 Watershed Festival), and various unique settings, from a provincial park to a cave, as the first show chosen for Tweed & Company’s site-specific theatre program.

Sam Boer is also the drummer/vocalist for the post-folk band The Lifers.

Believing that the creation and performance of music is just one of the ways an artist contributes to the community, Sam has also written music journalism for various Canadian publications; hosted an interview-based podcast through CFRU 93.3 FM called Lyrically Speaking; led music classes for young children as a certified Music Together instructor; crafted bios for artists including Vivek Shraya and Ellen Froese; provided project management support for Canadian acts like James Gordon and Moonfruits; filmed live videos for acts like JoJo Worthington and Tragedy Ann; and, as part of the University of Guelph’s International Institute for Critical Studies for Improvisation, has helped produce six editions of IF, their 24-hour international arts festival. He the Managing Editor of the peer-reviewed academic journal Critical Studies in Improvisation / Études critiques en improvisation, which explores improvisation within and beyond musical contexts.