[1] He formed the Warumpi Band with George Burarrwanga, Neil Murray and Gordon Butcher in the late 1970s.
[citation needed] Butcher released a solo album Desert Surf Guitar on CAAMA music.
[2] The album's name was inspired by the sand hills surrounding Papunya, "you can imagine them as being huge red waves on the ocean"[3] He was the subject of the documentary Sammy Butcher, Out of the Shadows, part of the Nganampa Anwernekenhe series.
[5] The musical is semi-autobiographical and told from the perspective of Butcher and his two younger brother's Gordon and Brian Butcher, which differs other versions which tend to focus on another founding member Neil Murray.
[6][7] The National Indigenous Music Awards recognise excellence, innovation and leadership among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians from throughout Australia.