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How Foghat guitarist Bryan Bassett shook up Sanford

Bryan Bassett’s musical influence still felt in Sanford decades later

SANFORD, Fla. – Sanford is known for its live music scene.

If you go to the historic city this weekend you will probably hear music pouring out of many of the bars and restaurants.

One of the men responsible for helping to establish the city as a music hot spot is guitarist Bryan Bassett.

He played with “Wild Cherry” and later went on to become the guitarist for “Foghat”.

But, before that he was creating music in Sanford with King Snake Records.

“We had dozens of artists and made hundreds of albums over the course of 15 years,” Basset told News 6 Meteorologist and Riff On This host Samara Cokinos. “At one point we were doing 10 to 12 records a year with bands like Smokehouse, then we found Kenny Neal who is quite a big Blues artist right now.”

His work playing and mixing music set the stage for the music people still enjoy today.

“It was a lot of work and it was a lot of fun and it really created a community of blues musicians, particularly in Central Florida, but in Florida in general and Sanford in particular, I mean this was the hub of it.”

Though the record company has closed its doors the legacy still lives on.

“It’s nice to have places like this, that’s what keeps the blues going particularly in a small town more than anything are the venues that support it and the fans that come out to see the musicians,” Bassett said.


About the Authors
Tiffany Browne headshot

Tiffany is a Edward R. Murrow Award winning journalist. She produces WKMG Hits the Road, along with Florida's Fourth Estate and Talk to Tom.

Samara Cokinos headshot

Emmy Award Winning Meteorologist Samara Cokinos joined the News 6 team in September 2017. In her free time, she loves running and being outside.

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