ABOUT US

Sam Karr is an educator, basketball coach and was a member of the 1982 Kentucky All-Star basketball team. Karr has two daughters - Kylee Herndon, who works in Dentistry in Bloomington, IN and Ashton Karr, a nurse at UK Hospital NICU unit in Lexington, Ky. Both are a big part of the many events throughout the year in bluegrass. 

 

Sam attended the Festival of the Bluegrass every year since 1974 when he was 10 years old until taking it over 3 years ago.  He is owner of SamJam Promotions, which has operated the SamJam Bluegrass Festival in Piketon, that has just celebrated the 10 year anniversary in Piketon, Ohio. SamJam was started in Sam's back yard 19 years ago and after several small private festivals, a large festival was started in southern Ohio as a dream and a shot at a bigger public festival. Since starting SamJam Bluegrass Festival in 2016, the festival won the prestigious IBMA Momentum Award in 2018 as the best new festival and competed with festivals around the country 

 

The 2018 IBMA Momentum Award nominees are:

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Anderson Bluegrass Festival – SC
Farm & Fun Time – VA
Hovander Homestead Bluegrass Festival – WA
Red Wing Roots Music Festival – VA
SamJam Bluegrass Festival – OH

Also this past year, David J Taylor, the United States Congressman from Ohio , recognized SamJam Bluegrass Festival's vibrant contribution to the Appalachia region, and as a premier showcase of bluegrass music that has drawn thousands from around the country and oversees to Ohio. It states also that SamJam started as a local gathering and became a cultural cornerstone in the region and throughout the country. 

Karr is a 1982 graduate of Campbellsville High School and played college basketball at Lander University in Greenwood, South Carolina.

 

He has spent the last 20 plus years in Indiana schools, teaching biology and physical education, and now focuses his time on making the former Festival of the Bluegrass and the current Spirit In The Bluegrass, one the premier festivals in the country.