Creative Director/Audio Producer/Publisher

“Echoes of Hammers & Spikes” was the brainchild of Utah arts advocate Clive Romney, but has grown wings with this creative team. As founder and head of the nonprofit Utah Pioneer Heritage Arts, since 2008, Clive has devoted years to spotlighting lesser-known stories of Utah and its people. He is a prolific songwriter, producer and musician with over 500 original songs, 130 albums, movie scores, thousands of arrangements and over 5,000 performances to his credit. A multi-instrument performer and entertainer, Clive knows the importance and the power of music to elevate stories to touch our emotions and leads the songwriting team to add this power to the book.

Chief Storyteller/Author 

Sam Payne is a nationally recognized Master Storyteller, published author, singer/songwriter, entertainer, radio personality and arts educator. We count ourselves fortunate to have him on the creative team for “Echoes of Hammers & Spikes”. His gift for capturing imagery in prose is further amplified by his collaboration with (and recent marriage to) Suzanne Christensen (Payne). He has breathed life into the characters of this collection of stories, and given our Creative Director, Clive Romney, and our team of songwriters the imagery they needed to make these stories unforgettable. 

Storyteller/Author

For two decades, Suzanne Christensen has directed The Acting Company, a children’s theater company dedicated to the performance of Shakespeare by actors between the ages of 3 and 18. Her company has performed widely throughout the state, including command performances at the Tony Award-winning Utah Shakespeare Festival. She served two terms as a member of the Utah Arts Council and has done extensive work as a writer and vocal coach for storytellers and actors. Suzanne was the co-chair and then chairman of the College Volunteer Leadership Council for the College of Humanities at Brigham Young University. She is a sought-after lecturer on Shakespeare and his world and has directed and presented storytelling events for live audiences and for radio.