2019 SceneSC Sampler by Scene SCThis is our 10th South Carolina music compilation in the nearly 11 years we’ve been a website. People often ask how these “samplers” come together, and I often say it’s a miracle that they do.
The first few compilations featured a few unreleased songs, and mostly songs that were already out. We gathered songs for a couple of reasons. First of course was to showcase South Carolina talent, and the other main reason was to create a sort of time capsule of SC music.
Over time, and mostly with the help of Charleston musician and producer Wolfgang Zimmerman, the samplers started to become almost all exclusive tracks. This is something that we both love and find difficult to ask of bands yearly. We’re always amazed when artists step up and offer a b-side, a demo, and singles from their upcoming album. Fresh material that makes the sampler a highly anticipated release. It’s an honor for us to be a signal boost for these artists and the music they create.
This year’s compilation features 30 songs! That’s nearly double the 2011 sampler, and five more songs than we swore we would ever include. But, here we are, with 30 songs, nearly all of them exclusive at the time of release and featuring 18 artists who have never been on a sampler before. Only six artists from last year’s sampler made it on this year.
If you start out with the 20TEN sampler and move forward, you’ll not only hear 193 songs from South Carolina artists, but you’ll hear these musicians develop. From Sequoyah Prep School to Sequoyah to Susto. From Wylie to Brave Baby to Wolfgang Zimmerman and Keon Masters. That’s something that will continue this year with a lot of young musicians and projects who will surely grow into other projects in coming years.
So how do these come together again? A couple of emails, a good bit of word of mouth, and a lot of people in the music scene committed to helping this happen every year.
This year’s cover art is by the amazing Sludge Pony. You might recognize her style from some local show posters, or one of her many other projects you can find on her website.
Again this year, the sampler was mastered by Kenny McWilliams at Archer Avenue Studio. He truly is a treasure of our music scene.