By FINN HARTNETT

Staff writer

Sam Shilts is his own worst critic.

A guitarist and vocalist from Moundridge, he will kick off Chingawassa Days at 6 p.m. Friday.

He mostly plays covers, he said, and struggles to write his own music. His lyrics are “too cliche,” and he sometimes writes “lackluster riffs.”

“I feel like I have a lot to say, but I struggle getting it down on paper,” Shilts said. “I can write a song, but something I’m not proud of is usually what comes out.”

For all his self-criticism, Shilts will bring experience — he’s played at Chingawassa three times before — and a unique style to the Marion stage.

Shilts hails from a musical family. His mother was a pianist, his father a singer, and his grandmother a music teacher. Since age 5 Sam sang hymns at his local church.

“It’s what we did,” Shilts said. “Never thought twice about it.”

While he enjoyed music as a kid and sang often over the years, he was hesitant about pursuing a career in the arts.

Again, he was self-depricating when speaking about his own talent.

“I never was like, ‘this is all I want to do,’” Shilts said. “I mean, there are 15,000 people that do exactly what I can in the state of Kansas alone.”

Shilts played baseball and track at Dodge City Community College, then spent time at both The University of Kansas and Kansas State University.

“I’d just learned how to play guitar in college,” Shilts said. “I didn’t know how to get a show. So I played for friends, and I played for free beer every Wednesday.”

After college, he took a job as a carpenter; making a living as a musician “seemed unattainable,” he said.

Shilts played at festivals and bars periodically as a young adult.

He started taking performing more seriously in 2000, when he joined the McPherson-based quartet Petty Cash.

However, he has taken some large breaks in his career since, the biggest of which was a five-year hiatus after his father died in 2012.

“It wasn’t like the music in me died,” Shilts said. “It just kind of took the wind out of my sails. I had a lot more important things to do than trying to book shows.”

Shilts describes the music he plays as old-style country with some bluegrass and folk influences.

“I don’t really get down with the new stuff,” he said. “I love the ’90s guys — Garth Brooks, Rhett Akins, David Lee Murphy.”

Shilts moved from Kansas City back to Moundridge in 2015 and returned to performing in 2017.

He has since cranked his schedule back up, playing about a hundred shows a year.

He no longer is a carpenter, and now tends to a family farm when he’s not touring around Kansas.

“It’s a lot,” he said. “I got two little kids and a wife.”

Shilts has been booked for three Chingawassa Days but has performed there only twice.

The last time he was slated to play, in 2023, his set was rained out.

“I wanted to play in front of the people,” he said. “But it was still positive, because I got to meet some national artists, and hang out with the committee. In music, a lot of times, it’s about the hang.”

Johsie Reid, owner of JR Hatters, introduced Shilts to the Chingawassa committee.

“I got to say a big thanks to her for getting me over there,” he said.

This year, he will be joined by stand-up bass player Dave Thiessen and fiddler Jonathan Marshall under the artist name Sam Shilts Trio.

Those in attendance can expect a powerful vocal performance from Shilts, who isn’t shy about getting emotional on stage.

“I love ballads,” he said. “I love to make everybody cry. I gotta play some fast stuff so they don’t get too sad and go home early.”

Despite a long career on stage, a humble nature still shines through when Shilts speaks about this year’s Chingawassa festival.

“They treat me like a king there,” he said. “Better than I deserve.”