Sam Ravenna

Sam Ravenna plays the Bluesdays after-party tonight in the Auld Dubliner in the Village at Squaw Valley.

Ravenna got into music when he was 13 and his friends all played guitar. Someone suggested he try bass.

“I said, ‘Well, I really do like Flea (of the Red Hot Chili Peppers),” Ravenna said. “Bass was my first instrument and I was pretty much obsessed with it. Then my brother showed me Victor Wooten. That was mind blowing. I didn’t know you could do that with a bass. That song ‘Classical Thump’ opened my mind to what a bass could really be like. And then I discovered Jaco Pastorious, of course.”

Most musicians detest having their music put in a category. Not so with Sam.

“I’m not afraid to call it a genre: It’s soul,” Ravenna said. “I blend classic soul and neo soul with elements of funk.”