The Show on the Road – Samantha Fish

This week on The Show On The Road, we jump in our podcast time machine for a face-to-face interview (remember those?) with acclaimed blues and roots guitarist and singer-songwriter Samantha Fish.

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Now based in New Orleans, the SOTR caught up with Samantha Fish at the Sugar Magnolia Music Fest in Mississippi before the world shut down — and to be real, until recently, the very idea of airing this interview seemed inappropriate. Two songwriters speaking into one mic at close range? With everyone crammed into a little trailer? No sanitizer in sight? Indeed.

And yet, as in-person interviews are set to recommence and venues are reopening at last, it felt good to remind ourselves what a real Show On The Road conversation feels like. There are no Zoom glitches or quick edits needed here. We talk about favorite restaurants in New Orleans, dream festival lineups, and guitar solo self-esteem pep talks. We question if Elvis’s ghost is watching over us as we record — and you’ll notice the sound is not pristine, but maybe that’s the best part. You can hear the squeak of the seats, the grit in the voices before they are warmed up for an upcoming set. There’s a band warming up in the background and you can hear Samantha tuning her acoustic guitar just off mic before playing her favorite forlorn love-song, “I Need You More,” near the end.

For folks who are not familiar with Fish’s work, she’s been one of the hardest touring bandleaders on the blues and Americana circuit since she started recording out of her hometown of Kansas City a decade ago. She was still slinging and delivering pizzas then, but now she’s an award-winning veteran of various music scenes and a headliner at music fests from the Crescent City (where she played her first Jazz Fest) to jazz and blues gatherings across Europe and beyond. With seven albums and counting under her belt, including her Memphis brass-embellished latest, Kill Or Be Kind, and her standout rocker, Belle Of The West, (created with Luther Luther Dickinson, which we discuss at length here) Fish is proving again and again that she is in it for the long haul.

One of the more moving moments of the episode centers on Fish’s memories of growing up playing the drums and jamming with her musical family. Even then she didn’t see many girls like her taking the lead guitar as their destiny. She had to believe in herself before anyone else would, and here she is. Representation matters and Fish is showing a whole generation of young players that despite Rolling Stone barely mentioning women in their ongoing “greatest guitarists of all time” lists there are new people who walk and talk and look a little different taking up the mantle of guitar god (or goddess).


Photo credit: Alysse Gafkjen

BGS WRAPS: Samantha Fish, “Run Run Rudolph”

Artist: Samantha Fish
Song: “Run Run Rudolph”

In Their Words: “‘Run Run Rudolph’ is always such an upbeat song, we thought it would be cool to dip it in some noir. It’s catchy and fun. I wanted to pay homage to the classic Chuck Berry song, yet interpret it in a different way. I think it walks the line between vintage rock ‘n’ roll and being a unique track all its own.” — Samantha Fish

Bourbon and Beyond Music Lineup Revealed

Bourbon & Beyond, the world’s largest bourbon festival, will return to Louisville, Kentucky, on September 20-22, expanding to three days full of incredible music, unique culinary events, and unmatched experiences from the region’s best distilleries at the new Highland Festival Grounds At Kentucky Expo Center.

In total, more than 45 artists will play on three stages, including Alison Krauss, Del McCoury Band, Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real, and Margo Price. The bluegrass stage will be curated by the genre’s leading authority, The Bluegrass Situation. The BGS lineup includes Greensky Bluegrass, Mipso, Amythyst Kiah, The Travelin’ McCourys, Cedric Burnside, Ben Sollee, Dustbowl Revival, Lil Smokies, Front Country, with more to be announced.

The event will be headlined by Foo Fighters, Robert Plant And The Sensational Space Shifters (returning after originally being scheduled to appear in 2018) and the Zac Brown Band. Additional acts include John Fogerty, Daryl Hall & John Oates, and many others.

Bourbon & Beyond exclusive VIP packages, General Admission tickets, camping and hotel packages, as well as special event tickets, go on sale Friday, March 15 at 12:00 PM EDT.

The current music lineup for Bourbon & Beyond is as follows (subject to change):

Friday, September 20:
Foo Fighters, John Fogerty, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, The Flaming Lips, +LIVE+, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real, Greensky Bluegrass, Blackberry Smoke, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Pearl, Mipso, Amythyst Kiah

Saturday, September 21:
Robert Plant And The Sensational Space Shifters, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Trey Anastasio Band, Alison Krauss, Grace Potter, Squeeze, Jenny Lewis, Del McCoury Band, Samantha Fish, The White Buffalo, Maggie Rose, Patrick Droney, The Travelin’ McCourys, Cedric Burnside, Ben Sollee

Sunday, September 22:
Zac Brown Band, ZZ Top, Leon Bridges, Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros, Kurt Vile And The Violators, Margo Price, Little Steven And The Disciples Of Soul, Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, White Reaper, Whiskey Myers, Southern Avenue, Caroline Jones, Dustbowl Revival, The Lil Smokies, Front Country

LISTEN: Samantha Fish, ‘Daughters’

Artist: Samantha Fish
Hometown: Kansas City, MO
Song: “Daughters”
Album: Belle of the West
Release Date: November 3, 2017
Label: Ruf Records

In Their Words: “’Daughters’ is a song about rebellion and having those closest to you pushing against that. It’s also partially the story of how my parents got together. They eloped when they were really young, and my mom’s family took issue with it. When we were kids, we heard this really romanticized story. It’s about defiance and the fallout of that.” — Samantha Fish


Photo credit: Alysse Gafkjen