Catch up With Samantha Fish

(Samantha Fish in 2015 at the Center of the Arts in Homer, NY)

Oklahoma City native legendary blues woman Samantha Fish returns to Central New York this next week on Saturday, March 23, 2019 for a sold out show in Homer. Wildfire Reviews was lucky enough to catch up with Samantha for a quick interview!

Catch Up With Samantha Fish

A few years ago, Samantha Fish gave an incredible performance at the Center of the Arts in Homer. Now, several years later, she's returning to the small intimate venue for another event that can be just as promising. We were lucky enough to catch up with Samantha yesterday for some questions regarding the show, her current tour and her previous album she released in 2017, Belle of the West. Samantha's new tour has her traveling not just across the country, but around the world, and she's hitting up some pretty notorious festivals along the way.

"I'm most excited to play the Byron Bay Blues festival in Australia, I've always wanted to play that festival and I'm beyond thrilled to be there this year on the line up," Samantha stated. The Byron Bay Blues Festival is one Australia's biggest festivals, and it's now celebrating it's 30th year with a stellar line up that includes Jack Johnson and Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals as headliners. One of Samantha's favorite things about playing overseas is experiencing the unique and incredible cities she gets to perform in, and of course, living and learning about different cultures from around the world during each tour.

Closer to home, one of the shows Samantha's most excited about this year on her 2019 tour is the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. It's a home town show for her because she's now located in New Orleans. We asked Samantha what she's excited for the most about this year's festival, since she's played it before, in which she instantly replied, "The Rolling Stones!" The Rolling Stones rarely play festivals, and this will be their first time playing the event.

Samantha loves playing Upstate NY, and especially the Homer Center of the Arts, because of how beautiful the venue is, the crowd is always great there and the people are always super nice to her when she plays at the Homer location. That combination make Fish wanting to come back to the small venue, despite playing much larger shows and theaters on this current tour.

Recently in 2017, Fish, always at work, released two back to back albums in one years, which is almost an impossible thing to do for any artist that tours as much as she does. Yet, 2017's Belle of the West record is one of her best, and truly shines on her unique song writing talent. It's a country western and southern blues album that's truly exceptional and will draw in even more fans. What's different about this album though, is that it's extremely emotional.

"For the first time I was able to get up close and personal with my song writing and dealing with harder issues on the record," Samantha said. "Daughters is a song that was inspired by family members, and some rebellious lovers." On the flip side, "American Dreams" puts an interesting political spin on her music, "No Angels" is just about 'Some of the snakes you get to meet throughout life," Samantha said. One of Fish's favorite songs on the new album is, "Need You More," which for her is always fun to play live, and you can probably expect that song to be played next Saturday night.

However, during this new tour, Samantha says you can expect to hear older material since she's just wrapping up the "Chills & Fever" and "Belle of the West" recordings. Another thing that's new for the show in Homer is that Samantha will not only have an opener but a six piece band as well. (The last time she was there she just had a trio).

Samantha's current Spotify includes such legends like Nicolas Davis, Betty Harris, and a lot of Ray Charles, along with some modern stuff like Jack White, which is almost what you'd expect such a great guitarist like herself to be listening to. 

Samantha Fish is one of the best artists you can see live today, and for those lucky enough to be going to her Homer, NY show, you're not only witnessing an incredible musician, but a beautiful small venue as well. The show is next Saturday night, September 23, 2019 and starts at 8pm in Homer.

Above the song "No Angels" from her 2017 record, Belle of the West