I was lucky enough recently to get to spend a bit of time with Sam Roberts, one of Canada’s handsomest men and the rock and roll brain behind the recently-released ‘Love At The End Of The World’ (Rounder). Sam was here in the city to play a sold-out house at The Mercury Lounge, as well as do a bit of press.

Here’s Sam at Premiere Radio, where he sat down with Steve Reynolds to talk about cowboys, highway rest stops, and gambling on The Junos. That last bit isn’t as much of a non-sequitur as it might appear – Sam is up for 4 awards at this year’s ceremony, which is the second most nominations of any artist.

That night, Sam played a packed show at The Bowery, as you can see. A lot of our friends were there, including, for some reason, about half of the women in our office. Something about this devastatingly handsome rock start must be interesting to them! Sam absolutely tore the place down with strobe lights and rock and roll. I caught a bit of video, which you can check out below. It gets shaky for a bit, but it gets better again, I promise.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlUpDeeT8Y8]

Bright and early the next morning, Sam and guitarist Dave Nugent met me at the studios of CBS radio (which have an amazing view), for an interview and a few acoustic songs. The guys sounded amazing, especially considering it had just been a few hours since they’d been on stage at the Bowery. You can hear the audio of that session right here.

Then, after a short bit of banana-buying and beer-discussing, Sam and Dave were whisked off to WFUV and parts beyond. Over the coming weeks, he’ll be in Austin, LA, Chicago, and more. Don’t miss out.