From cold-calling bars as a teenager to headlining international festivals, twice Grammy-nominated Samantha Fish is only just getting started with her first official live album, Paper Doll Live, due out on 12th June through Rounder Records.
“Truly, this is for the fans,” Fish exclaimed. “We’ve had numerous requests over the years. Paper Doll felt so great on stage, it felt like the perfect time to showcase the band and our live show.”
Recorded at the historic Bijou Theatre in Knoxville, Tennessee, Paper Doll Live captures a band fully locked in and feeding off a packed crowd. The venue’s natural warmth and acoustics created an ideal setting for the recording, elevated even further by the addition of Nashville gospel legends The McCrary Sisters, whose soaring harmonies bring added depth and emotion to the performance.
“Their voices lifted every song,” Fish offered. “I love beautiful backing vocals, they pack an emotional punch. I’ve been a fan of them for years, so that was really special for me.”
Building her reputation on explosive live performances that blend raw guitar power with deeply expressive vocals, the new record showcases the intensity and chemistry that define her shows night after night.
“Our fans aren’t afraid to travel,” Fish said. “When we announced the show, people got excited. I think that build-up always helps make a better show.” Indeed, fans travelled from across the country to attend the recording, creating an atmosphere of anticipation and celebration inside the theatre.
The result is a performance that feels both ferocious and communal, a moment where the band, the songs and the audience meet in real time. While the studio album Paper Doll marked a breakthrough in Fish‘s artistic confidence, the live setting strips away polish and leaves only instinct.
“There’s a fire that comes across in live performance that doesn’t always translate in studio albums,” Fish said. “The stage lays all of that bare.”
Songs evolve and expand in the live environment. Outros stretch. Studio fade-outs become powerful climaxes. For Fish, the difference between studio and stage is elemental.
“The studio is where you build and create your sound,” she said. “The stage is where you execute all of that. Having a crowd takes you out of your head and gives you something to play off. I just wanted to capture what we do every night. It wasn’t about chasing something new. It was about capturing the thing that has connected so deeply over the years.”
If Paper Doll was a declaration of artistic power, Paper Doll Live is the sound of that power unleashed, immediate, unfiltered and impossible to ignore.
The tracklist features ‘Kick Out The Jams‘, ‘Paper Doll‘, ‘Can Ya Handle The Heat?‘, ‘I Put A Spell On You‘, ‘I’m Done Runnin”, ‘Lose You‘, ‘Sweet Southern Sounds‘, ‘Bulletproof‘, ‘Miles To Go‘, ‘Fortune Teller‘, ‘Better Be Lonely‘, ‘Dream Girl‘, ‘Don’t Say It‘, ‘Poor Black Mattie‘, ‘Rusty Razor‘ and ‘Black Wind Howlin”.
Taken from the forthcoming album, new single ‘Sweet Southern Sounds (Live)‘ finds the added vocals of The McCrary Sisters bringing emotional soul to Samantha Fish‘s lament. A soft dreamy blues, until she turns the guitar up to ten and lets rip, the sisters’ “oohs” matching her every step of the way.
‘Sweet Southern Sounds (Live)‘ is available on all streaming platforms now, with an official music video you can check out below.
