Page 71 - ION Indie Magazine JanFeb 2022

INTERVIEW

Interview by Scott Wikle
https://www.facebook.com/mykindofcountrymkoc
Photo credit: Karen Rogers

Sammy Sadler is still best known in country music circles as the survivor of the 1989 shooting
in downtown Nashville that took the life of his friend, Cash Box chart manager Kevin Hughes.
The assassination plot, commonly known as the “Murder On Music Row,” brought his music
career to a halt.

Early in his career, Sammy was signed to Evergreen Records and reached the country charts
in January 1989. He was enjoying a burgeoning career when, around the time of his 6th
nationally charting record, “Tell It Like It Is,” tragedy struck. The singer was seriously
wounded when he and his friend, Kevin Hughes, were approached and shot on Nashville’s
Music Row. Hughes had been the target, as the result of his uncovering a chart-fixing scheme
and being unwilling to accept money to move undeserving songs up the chart. It took Sadler
more than 10 years to reestablish his career, but he was determined.

In 2004, Sammy released the album "Hard on a Heart" on the Tri label. He later signed to
Audium Records, which released the "Heart Shaped Like Texas" album in 2009. This project
produced rave reviews for the two lead singles, “I’ll Always Have Denver,” featuring Steve
Wariner, and “No Place to Land.” But the label was in transition, selling to Koch and then to
E1, which ultimately shuttered, leaving Sadler’s promising album shelved. Still determined to
pursue his dream, in 2012, Sammy launched the hugely successful “Taking the Country Back
Tour” package with Doug Stone, and later, Jeff Carson and Ken Mellons (2015-2016).

In 2019, Sammy published his book "A Hit with a Bullet,” in which told the first-hand account
of his nearly fatal shooting and the career-ending 13-year investigation that ensued. The
autobiographical mystery-thriller, which took over 10 years to complete, chronicles Sammy's
remarkable journey from a country music newcomer whose latest single had been marked
with a bullet (indicating its fast climb up the chart), to being placed "under suspicion" for a
murder that would capture international headlines. Sammy recounts his struggle to overcome
debilitating injuries as homicide detectives follow various leads, and the hardship of
reconciling his passion for country music and a desire to rebuild his career when their
investigation reveals a darker side of Nashville's music industry, corruption, payola, and
murder.