Sam Merrick is a Nashville based drummer, currently holding the drum set chair at & Juliet on Broadway at the Sondheim Theater in New York City. Previously, he spent nearly five years and played over 1200 performances with the national tour of Hamilton: An American Musical.He has also recorded and/or performed with Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Toots and the Maytals, Jalen Ngonda, Saun & Starr (Daptone Records), The Denver Symphony, People's Champs, Kendra Morris (Colemine Records), and many more. Commercial clients include HBO, Levi Strauss, Chase, AT&T, and This American Life Podcast Network.In this episode, Sam talks about:Balancing maintaining a Broadway chair with other musical opportunitiesRelearning how to trust his instincts outside the highly controlled environment of a Broadway showMoving from the note-for-note specificity of Hamilton to the longer leash of & JulietWorking with producer Max MartinMaintaining a "healthy ecosystem" of subs