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"The Last Link Between Today and The Old West"

"The Cowboy on Crutches"

"Ambassador of Goodwill"

"The Traveling Troubadour"

"The Man They Can't Fence In"

Often referred to as "The Last Link between Today and The Old West", "The Cowboy on Crutches", "Ambassador of Goodwill", "The Man They Can't Fence In" or "The Traveling Troubadour" (and some others we can't mention here), he was best know as just Singin'Sam. 

Singin' Sam dedicated his life to the preservation of the Cowboy Way and the songs, stories, humor, poetry, and crafts that define the true American Cowboy.  This site is dedicated to the preservation of Singin' Sam's memory, the materials he collected and lives he touched along the way. 

 "Singin'" Sam Agins was born in Denver, Colorado on June 4, 1919 and died in Sun City, Arizona on March 28, 1996.  Singin' Sam is best know as an American cowboy folksinger who learned to play fiddle and guitar in his youth.  Though limited to the use of crutches or a wheelchair for mobility, Singin' Sam Agins became an inspiration for all who came in contact with him.  During the 1940's and 50's he entertained disabled youth, veterans and children in hospitals, acting as an Ambassador for Goodwill Industries.  Other groups treated to Agins' talents included prisoners in New Mexico, University students throughout the West and visitors to the Smithsonian Institution's Festival of American Folklife.  His main audience however, were guests at dude ranches in Southern Arizona and all over the Rocky Mountain West where he performed at up into the late 1980's.  Sam's song "City Boarders" reflects the  guest ranch context in which he often performed.  Where once the cowboys on the ranches wrangled cattle and horses now they wrangled dudes.  In this song we find the clash of cultures that marked the transition of the "Old West."  The song "City Boarders" appears on his first album, Singin' Sam's Saddlebag of Songs and the popular compilation, Back in the Saddle Again from New World Records, which includes such other greats as Gene Autry, Rex Allen, Glenn Ohrlin, Tex Ritter, Sons of the Pioneers, Bob Wills, Patsy Montana and many more. 

Not only a musician but a lyricist and collector of others' lyrics, Agins wrote, collected and recorded songs throughout his life and established his own recording company, Haywire, in the 1970's.  He numbered among his friends the Mexican and American cowboys, and the hobos ("gentlemen of the highways") who shared their songs and stories with him.  His other writing includes an autobiography, 3 Dimes and a Button, several plays, poems, magazine articles, news columns, and a photographic essay entitled Round Legs.

Sam Agins was not only a musician and writer but a multi-talented craftsman.  His interest in American folk culture probably started in California where, as a boy, he learned to train horses and grew adept at rope tricks.  Later, in Arizona, he spent time on Indian reservations learning the crafts of saddle making, leather work, and silver and goldsmithing.  He worked long and hard refining his many crafts, and most would say he was better than average at ALL of them.  He used each of them, at one time or another, to make his living and to keep The West alive!     

Singin' Sam's career took him all over the Rocky Mountain West (and much of the rest of the country) where he

entertained and sold his hand made jewelry at dude ranches, performed at concerts and festivals and taught classes about folk singing at universities and community colleges.  His career also took him back East on a few important occasions.  After logging well over a million miles, by horseback, burro, pickup truck, and a varied assortment of automobiles, entertaining people and collecting material along the way, Singin' Sam Agins could truly feel the pulse of real Western Americana music and culture.  The Smithsonian Institution recognized Singin' Sam's importance as an American entertainer, craftsman and as a folklore expert and invited him to perform there.  At the Montreal Expo 1971, the Smithsonian Institution presented the Festival of American Folklife in the United States Pavilion.  This program was designed for the people of Canada and tourists from all around the world.  Participants were singers and craftsmen.  Singin' Sam was asked to participate for two weeks as both a folksinger and a jewelry craftsman.  In 1976 the Smithsonian Institution presented the BiCentenial Festival of American Folklife in Washington D.C.  Singin' Sam Agins was asked again to participate there as a folksinger and as an expert on early American folk songs.  Throughout the 70's and 80's, Sam participated in numerous other festivals and events including the Festival of the American West and the Western Writer's Conferences held in Logan, Utah.  The Sam Agins Collection is currently housed and preserved in the Special Collections and Archives Library at the Utah State University in Logan, Utah.

Just Released!!!!

Singin' Sam's book of Cowboy Poetry and more, "Rambler's Notebook, 50 Years of Scribblin"

"I have seen more than a thousand folk artists in my lifetime, and in my opinion, only a handful would qualify as real troubadours.  Singin' Sam Agins was one of them.  He was a true rambler who managed his life so that he was always free to travel to the next interesting place.  I put him in the class of Woodie Guthrie, Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Huddie Ledbetter."                    Dolan Ellis - Arizona's Official Balladeer                                       

"A very intersting must read" -  Travis Edmondson

"Singin Sam Agins love of all things cowboy led him to become one of the most welcome dude ranch entertainers, reciting across Wyoming in the summer and Arizona in the winter.  This small volume tells the story of this remarkable man and prints his original poems for all to enjoy." - Warren Miller - Jigger Boss, Arizona Cowboy Poets gatehring.

In The News

 Be sure to check out the big, 6 page article on Singin'Sam in the January 04 (Clay Aiken issue) issue of Ability Magazine!  

This web site is new and will have more information added soon.  So please, pour yourself a cup of coffee, pull up a log and enjoy!  Please sign the Guestbook and don't forget to come back again later, as there is much more to come!

Singin' Sam's albums "Singin' Sam's Saddle bag of Songs" and "Singin' Sam and Friends" are both being re-released on CD and will soon be available on this site.  Also, soon to be available! "Three Dimes and a Button", Sam's inspiring autobiography and his book of poetry "Rambler's Notebook, 'Fifty years of Scriblin'".