Multi-award winning American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter, Samantha Fish, has a new studio album Belle of the West out on Ruf Records on Friday 17th November 2017 with a nationwide eight date UK tour kicking off at The Stables in Milton Keynes just three days later on Monday 20th.
“You should always get outside of the box,” said Fish, on how she approached making Belle of the West. “Challenging yourself is how you grow.”
Samantha Fish launched her recording career in 2009, quickly established herself as a rising star in the contemporary blues world, while releasing a series of acclaimed albums wherein her restless creative spirit has taken her in constantly new musical directions (she’s even covered Black Sabbath‘s ‘War Pigs’).
The New York Times called Fish “an impressive blues guitarist who sings with sweet power” and “one of the genre’s most promising young talents.” Her hometown paper The Kansas City Star noted, “Samantha Fish has kicked down the door of the patriarchal blues club” and observed that the young artist “displays more imagination and creativity than some blues veterans exhibit over the course of their careers.”
However, more interested in following her heart than in repeating past triumphs, with Belle of the West, her fifth studio album Fish has recorded 11 personally charged songs that showcase her acoustic guitar skills as well as her roots and songwriting skills,.
Recorded in the relaxed, rural creative atmosphere of the legendary Zebra Ranch Studios in the North Hills of Mississippi with producer Luther Dickinson (of North Mississippi All-stars fame), with whom Fish worked previously on her 2015 album Wild Heart, the studio team included some of the region’s most iconoclastic musicians, including Dickinson, solo artist and Jack White associate Lillie Mae (whose distinctive vocals are featured on ‘Nearing Home’), much-travelled juke-joint blues artist Lightnin’ Malcolm (who’s featured on ‘Poor Black Mattie’), Squirrel Nut Zippers founder Jumbo Mathus, upright bassist and solo artist Amy LaVere, Tikyra Jackson, Trina Raimey and Shardé Thomas, granddaughter of the legendary Southern bluesman Otha Turner.
“I wanted to do this acoustic-electric record, and tap into the style and swagger of Mississippi,” Fish said, adding, “Any time you dive into another place, another vibe and a new group of people, you’re challenging yourself to grow musically. I felt very at home a Zebra Ranch, and I’ve known Luther and Malcolm for years, so it was a very comfortable situation. When you’re making a record like this, it has to feel natural if you want people to respond to it.
SAMANTHA FISH – NOVEMBER 2017 UK TOUR DATES
Milton Keynes, The Stables Monday 20 November Tickets
Bristol, The Tunnels Tuesday 21 November Tickets
Bilston, Robin 2 Wednesday 22 November Tickets
Southampton, The Brook Thursday 23 November Tickets
London, Borderline Friday 24 November Tickets
Derby, The Flowerpot Saturday 25 November Tickets
Keighley Blues Live Sunday 26 November Tickets
Edinburgh, Stramash Monday 27 November Tickets
