Belly Up Presents
The Samples, Shakedown String Band
with The Samples, Shakedown String Band
The Samples
38 years after starting his full-fledged music career with The Samples, Sean Kelly continues to delight fans with music that transcends genres, age and shatters the rules of the established music industry. Throughout his career, Sean has been the driving influence of 20 albums and over 1 million records sold.
Sean started playing guitar at age 16 listening to Neil Young, Rolling Stones and Jackson Browne. Those influences mixed with his own poignant and timeless lyrics, a unique and striking voice and a mind for melodies led to songs like Little Silver Ring, Feel Us Shaking and Wild River. For many fans, these aren’t new songs or old songs, but anthems to their lives that represent the first time they met their wife or the joys of their times at college.
The Samples are more than a band – they represent a culture of fans and music that go beyond who happens to be playing in the band at any given time. There have been many members of The Samples, but Sean Kelly has been the consistent factor throughout all of the changes.
Sean’s journeys across America have taken place in rental cars, tour buses and pickup trucks that would have literally taken him to the moon and back over the last quarter of a century. There is a lot of music in store in 2025 and beyond from Sean Kelly and The Samples.
Sean started playing guitar at age 16 listening to Neil Young, Rolling Stones and Jackson Browne. Those influences mixed with his own poignant and timeless lyrics, a unique and striking voice and a mind for melodies led to songs like Little Silver Ring, Feel Us Shaking and Wild River. For many fans, these aren’t new songs or old songs, but anthems to their lives that represent the first time they met their wife or the joys of their times at college.
The Samples are more than a band – they represent a culture of fans and music that go beyond who happens to be playing in the band at any given time. There have been many members of The Samples, but Sean Kelly has been the consistent factor throughout all of the changes.
Sean’s journeys across America have taken place in rental cars, tour buses and pickup trucks that would have literally taken him to the moon and back over the last quarter of a century. There is a lot of music in store in 2025 and beyond from Sean Kelly and The Samples.
Shakedown String Band
Described by fans as “tight as The Allmans, loose as The Dead, funky as The Meters,” Shakedown String Band masterfully blends spontaneity with musicianship.
Hailing from Ocean Beach, San Diego, Shakedown String Band has evolved from their traditional “string band” roots; while the core of the sound relies heavily on vocal harmonies and soaring electric melodies, the momentum is powered by tight drums and percussion. Whether you’re a lover of acoustic strings or psychedelic jams, Shakedown String Band boasts a deep catalog of original music that offers a diverse palette for just about everyone.
The studio release "Stargazer" delivers a contagious blend of americana, country, psychedelic, and soul. Produced by Tim Bluhm of the Mother Hips, original lyrics transport listeners through starry desert nights, high alpine forests, and a 1969 road trip across America (true story). Also included is a swoon-worthy cover of the Grateful Dead’s Mississippi Half-Step.
Hailing from Ocean Beach, San Diego, Shakedown String Band has evolved from their traditional “string band” roots; while the core of the sound relies heavily on vocal harmonies and soaring electric melodies, the momentum is powered by tight drums and percussion. Whether you’re a lover of acoustic strings or psychedelic jams, Shakedown String Band boasts a deep catalog of original music that offers a diverse palette for just about everyone.
The studio release "Stargazer" delivers a contagious blend of americana, country, psychedelic, and soul. Produced by Tim Bluhm of the Mother Hips, original lyrics transport listeners through starry desert nights, high alpine forests, and a 1969 road trip across America (true story). Also included is a swoon-worthy cover of the Grateful Dead’s Mississippi Half-Step.