Produced by Bill Lloyd at Awesomewood Studios in North Hollywood

Sam Lapides releases “Kisses In My Pocket” on July 22, premiering on Retrofuturista ahead of its arrival on Bandcamp, Spotify and Apple Music. Bill Lloyd produced the track at Awesomewood Studios in North Hollywood. He initially imagined a honky-tonk shuffle for the song, but he and Lapides settled instead on a bare arrangement of voice and guitar, with Lloyd adding sparse instrumentation and harmonies. Lapides calls the song a love letter from his unconscious, written around a melody and chorus that arrived to him whole one morning, an unusual occurrence in his writing.

Title: Kisses In My Pocket
Artist: Sam Lapides
Release Date: 2026-07-22
Genres: Americana, Folk Rock
Label: self-released

Lapides, born David Samuel Lapides on August 14, 1962 in Irvington, New Jersey, grew up between New Jersey and Maryland before settling in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He played drums in the band The Evaders while at Community High School, then switched to guitar and began busking at the University of Michigan. In 1987 he formed The Folkminers, releasing a cassette and an EP before the band split in 1988. He moved on to Boston, then Los Angeles, busking along the way, including on the Venice Beach boardwalk.

He later formed Ghosthouse with John Thoman of Rain Parade, touring Europe and opening for Wall of Voodoo’s Stan Ridgway. Steve Wynn of The Dream Syndicate (read our interview with Steve Wynn) produced several of his early recordings after hearing him play one of Wynn’s own songs. In 2014 Lapides formed Sam Lapides and The Rotten Liars, the project behind this release, and continues to host the weekly acoustic series “Saturdays with Sam Lapides.”

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