Sam Neely was an American country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

ian.

Born in Cuero, Texas

Cuero, Texas

Cuero is a city in DeWitt County, Texas, United States. The population was 6,571 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of DeWitt County. It is also unofficially known as the "turkey capital of the world"...

, Neely began playing guitar at age ten. After moving with his family to Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi, Texas

Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. The MSA population in 2008 was 416,376. The population was 305,215 at the 2010 census making it the...

, he began playing in bands, including local group Buckle. He made an appearance on the Merv Griffin Show in 1968 and was asked to write a song for the film Tilt; though the movie was not released until 1978, it did include Neely's "Long Road to Texas". Neely scored a string of minor hits in the 1970s on the country and pop charts, and released a few albums which saw sales success. In 1978, he moved back to Corpus Christi and became the house musician for the Electric Eel. In 1983 he made a comeback on MCA Records

MCA Records

MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...

.

Neely collapsed and died while mowing his lawn on July 19, 2006. He was 58.

Albums

Year	Album	Chart Positions
		US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
1971	Long Road to Texas	—
1972	Loving You Just Crossed My Mind	147
1973	Two	175
1974	Down Home	202
1981	Two of a Kind	—
2004	Son of the South	—

Singles

Year	Song	Peak chart positions
		US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...	US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
1972	"Loving You Just Crossed My Mind"	—	29
1973	"Rosalie"	—	43
1974	"You Can Have Her"	49	34
1975	"I Fought the Law I Fought the Law "I Fought the Law" is a song written by Sonny Curtis of The Crickets and became popularized by a cover by the Bobby Fuller Four, which went on to become a top-ten hit for the band in 1966 and was also recorded by The Clash in 1979... "	61	54
1977	"Sail Away"	98	84
1983	"The Party's Over (Everybody's Gone)"	78	—
	"When You Leave That Way You Can Never Go Back When You Leave That Way You Can Never Go Back "When You Leave That Way You Can Never Go Back" is the title of a song written by Steve Clark and Johnny MacRae. It was first recorded by Sam Neely in 1983 for the MCA Records label.-Chart performance:-Bill Anderson version:... "	77	—
1984	"Old Photographs"	81	—