“I love him. He’s like the British Bruce Springsteen,” my wife tells me as I’m getting ready to head down to DC to witness Sam Fender rock a packed house at The Anthem. And the more I think of it, it’s a little more than apropos. The singer from North Shields, England, not only can craft anthemic songs that paint vivid scenes of the ups and downs in life, but he has a down-to-earth way of connecting to an audience much like The Boss. 

Fender’s music is informed, like all great art, from personal experience, and I think that grounds it to something very human. It’s a sound and a feel that’s immediately recognizable. Songs like “Angel in Lothian” with that last verse, “I wish an angel fell somewhere in Lothian / She could have fixed all the problems I cannot fix / But one day I might have kids myself / And hope I don’t fuck ‘em up myself” hitting like a ton of concrete.