BLK ODYSSY

Born in New Jersey and now calling Austin, Texas home, soul singer and songwriter Sam Houston fronts the raw R&B outfit Blk Odyssy, whose sound moves fluidly between polished, upbeat grooves and urgent tracks steeped in social critique and activist themes. Drawing on personal episodes of hardship and celebration, Houston crafted the project’s 2021 debut album Blk Vintage. Two years later came the sexually charged concept album Diamonds & Freaks along with the concert recording Live from Gold Diggers.

Raised in Plainfield, New Jersey, Houston first recorded soul-inflected Americana under his own name before shifting toward rap and R&B with Blk Odyssy. After settling in Austin, he and his bandmates issued their initial Blk Odyssy tracks via the 2021 single “Big Bad Wolf/Sober” and several additional singles that led into the August 2021 arrival of Blk Vintage. Multiple cuts on that album addressed the police killing of Houston’s older brother and the way the incident sparked his commitment to activism. In June 2022 the group collaborated with funk pioneer George Clinton and rapper Benny the Butcher on the single “Benny’s Got a Gun.” The track, together with other previously unheard material, appeared on the 2022 release Blk Vintage: The Reprise, which expanded the 2021 debut. Before the year closed, Houston and his band issued the new single “Lay Low.” Both the full-length studio album Diamonds & Freaks and the live set Live from Gold Diggers surfaced in 2023.