"Aren’t you the guy on that Bert and I record?" I've been asked that question numerous times over the years. I usually say something like this: The 'guy' on that record is actually two great downeast storytellers, the late Marshall Dodge and the very-much-still-with-us Bobby (Reverend Robert) Bryan. Since Marshall and Bobby made that classic record back in 1957, when I was only 6 years old, I wasn't invited to participate.

The question is certainly a fair one, though. After all, for the past twenty years my promotional material has referred to me as "Bert and I recording artist...Tim Sample" So if I wasn't on the original Bert and I record, what makes me a "Bert and I recording artist?” Basically the fact that shortly after the tragic death of Marshall Dodge in 1982, I recorded four albums and a videotape for the Bert and I Company (for more details see my complete bibliography elsewhere on this website). One of those albums, "How to Talk Yankee," a collaboration between and Bobby Bryan me is still one of the funniest and most popular albums I've ever made.

Every now and then Bobby and I still perform onstage together. Whenever we do I am privileged to join him for some of the original stories he and Marshall made famous ("The Body in th’ Kelp," "The Lighter Than Air Balloon") and we always do some of the classic material from “How to Talk Yankee.”

Fortunately for all of us, the original recordings have been preserved and are again available on cassette, some on CD. I recommend any and all of these albums most highly. No collection of American humor would be complete without them.

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