Ironing Board Sam

Ironing Board Sam, is an American electric blues keyboardist, singer and songwriter, who has released a small number of singles and albums. His musical career, has spanned over fifty years, and he released a new album in 2012. "I'll tell you one thing, it's the blues," he stated. "That's why I look like a blues man now."

Whimsical, creative, a true genius, Ironing Board Sam played in hot-air balloons and underwater in his own giant aquarium, all the while amassing a staggering repertoire of both originals and classic blues and R&B songs.

To say that Sammie Moore — better known to his fans as Ironing Board Sam — is inventive just doesn’t cut it. The word lacks the depth to capture his genius, his whimsy and his creativity.

He became legendary in the early 1960s for inventing the first portable, electronic keyboard. He called it the “button board.” It was made from upholstery tacks wired to 64 radio tubes and was mounted on a 2×4 that sat on an ironing board.

In his longtime hometown of New Orleans, he played while floating above Jackson Square in a hot-air balloon, played underwater in his homemade giant aquarium, and rode around in a Cadillac he had fitted with crystal chandeliers. One of his spangled keyboards now sits in the National Museum of African American Music in Nashville, donated by Music Maker.

. A truly gifted and engaging performer, Sam’s voice was powerful and soulful, and his piano prowess was remarkable. After Sam joined the Music Maker family in 2010, he relocated to Hillsborough, North Carolina. We booked gigs for him — on the legendary Blues Cruise and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, as well as performances throughout North Carolina — until he retired from playing.

In his heyday, Ironing Board Sam was nearly a total obscurity — working primarily in local scenes around the South. He toured minimally and recorded infrequently. But those who got to see him, whether in person or on the groundbreaking R&B television program “Night Train,” remember him well, for Sam could put on a show.

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