When crafting her new solo album, “Paper Doll,” Samantha Fish did what any good singer/songwriter should do: she leaned into her “superpowers.”
The Grammy-nominated blues artist, who’s equally known as a guitar genius, partnered with her touring band for the nine-song set. She recorded “Paper Doll” at The Orb in Austin, Texas, and at L.A.’s Savannah Studios. Song themes include feminism, self-reliance, confidence, love, and loss—and the overall tone, which is a rock-pop-blues explosion, is reflective of a life lived on the road.
In promoting her new material, Fish explained, “When we started working on this record, I asked myself, ‘What are my superpowers?’” I wanted to lean into my strengths in a way I never completely had before, to make a big guitar album with some epic performances and really sing my ass off. I ended up pouring so much emotion into all the songs, and I hope they help people feel fired up and ready to take on anything that comes their way. I’d love for this record to be somebody’s jet fuel.”
Fish, who just wrapped a run of shows in Europe, will headline a Buffalo concert Wednesday, June 25, inside Asbury Hall at Babeville.
Support will come from the Texas Headhunters, a band featuring Jesse Dayton—with whom Fish worked on her previous album, “Death Wish Blues.”
She shared more on her Buffalo show and about “Paper Doll” in this edited Q&A.
Q: When people make blues music, or when they are performing in a style like yours—and they talk about where they’ve recorded and who they’ve collaborated with—New York doesn’t usually make the list, right? So, do we get it? Are we a good audience? What is the appeal in coming up and performing in this area?
Samantha Fish: I mean, yeah, y’all definitely get it.
I feel like there are so many pockets in the country that appreciate this music; you don’t have to be from Chicago or the South or Texas to appreciate blues music.
We appeal to music fans in general. You know, there are people who really love blues that come to our shows, but I think we also appeal to people who like rock ’n’ roll and people who like Americana music. There are different elements of that throughout.
I totally think you all get it, and it’s a great audience for us. I’ve been coming to Buffalo for 15 years now, and every time it’s been a good time (laughs). I don’t think I’ve had a bad time in Buffalo yet.
Q: I want to ask you about your live show because, in looking at your bio and some of the current things your team has shared about where you are at this stage in your career, you’re quoted as saying that you’re “a perfectionist.” Yet, your live show is always described as being “incendiary.” How do these ideas coexist, because you don’t necessarily think of a perfectionist blowing up the house at the same time. How do you make it merge as well as you do?
Samantha Fish: Actually, before you called, I was listening to last night’s show and kind of just listening for little things to fine-tune.
The idea is that while you’re playing live, you’re getting better. But if you know your material, and you know what you’re playing, it’s like you can kind of let go … now I don’t have to think about it so much. So, the perfectionism thing can kind of drop back a little bit—and the feeling of putting on an entertaining show for an audience can take over.
To me, it’s about getting that muscle memory for performance. If I’m struggling with a riff and I’m coming across sloppy, you just practice it until you get it, until that muscle memory is there, and then you’re not having to think about, like, “Am I doing this perfectly?” Now you’re just doing it.
But I think a lot of musicians face that, because you don’t want to be staring down at your fretboard all night and thinking exactly how the song is supposed to go. You want to be entertaining, and you want to be connecting with people.
I think it’s one of those “be as prepared as possible” situations, and you won’t have to think so hard when you’re up there.
Q: Something else that’s been a common theme when we’ve chatted is that you’ve had new music. With more and more albums, I’m wondering about your setlist. Where are you at these days with that? What have you been including or not putting in? And what can we expect from you?
Samantha Fish: I selfishly like to include the new music, just because it gives me and the band something new to play. Because, with as much as we tour, it’s important to keep it fresh for us, too, so the performances can still stay engaging and incendiary, I guess, if that’s the word we want to keep using!
So, selfishly, I like to cater to the new music and the new record. I also like, for our fans that come and see us over and over again, I want the show to keep getting better, and I want it to keep evolving so that, when they come show to show, it’s like, if you don’t catch us this time, you’re never going to see this show again. I kind of like that moving target appeal of live performance.
So, I definitely will be catering to the new music, but I also find it’s important to play what your fans like. I want to throw in fan favorites—because I know when I go to a concert, I want to hear my favorite song. I try to keep my finger on the pulse of what our most popular songs are and what seems to resonate with the audience the most. It’s a fine balance, right?
Q: For people who are going to be coming out and hearing songs from “Paper Doll,” tell me a little bit about that album. What was the idea behind it? Are you satisfied with how it’s come together and how it’s playing live?
Samantha Fish: Yeah. It’s exciting for me because you make a record; it’s kind of like a secret that you have to keep for six to nine months before anybody can really hear it. And there’s a lot of preparation. So, for me, it’s like, kind of getting to enjoy, now, like, “All right, what do people actually think of this?”
I’ve been really proud of this record, and I felt like it sounded great. I thought the songs were great. I thought the quality of the recording itself, sonically, felt really good.
So, I feel good about it. And I think the way that it’s translating live, that’s an evolution; that takes time. It takes just doing it over and over and over again for us, as a band, to figure out how things sit in the show and how things should change to meet the stage’s demands a little bit better.
But kind of the process behind it, I mean, I knew I wanted a new record. I was just coming off of the heels of doing the Jesse Dayton tour with “Death Wish Blues.” And I knew that, like, “OK, this is my first solo record since ‘Faster,’ which came out in 2021—it’s like four years.” That’s a long time to wait between solo records.
So, I wanted to lean into my “superpowers”: what people kind of have come to know about me, in some ways. I wanted to really stretch out and express myself on guitar, but in a way that feels true to my identity as a guitar player. I’m not a crazy, flashy player, but I do like to commit some melodies.
I feel like just writing strong hooks. I wanted to sing my ass off and just, you know, support good songs. I feel like we got a really great collection of them. I feel like the end result is something that’s rooted in blues, but it stretches out into a couple of different genres. Rock ’n’ roll is one that comes to mind as well.
Q: I’ve always enjoyed your music, and so I was sort of surprised—there’s another quote from you where you said that it’s taken you years to finally find your voice in a studio setting with regard to making “Paper Doll.” What did you think was, I guess, lacking or needed to be more of—and how did you go about finding that for this album?
Samantha Fish: Well, OK, so that quote has been haunting me this entire cycle!
I think it’s just one of those, like, ear-pricking kinds of things to say, because people will be like, “What? You made 10 albums? What do you mean you’re just now finding your voice?”
I don’t mean to disparage any of my past performances or anything. But the studio is like a learning experience. It’s a journey. You know, you get better every time you make a record. But obviously, I perform more on stage than I do in a studio. And I think that there’s a comfort factor that I have on stage where I can really relax and sing to my full capability, my full range. There are some shows where you might have anxiety or something else is going on, where you’re a little more restricted. But, for the most part, I found a comfortable way of singing on stage.
But in the studio, for years—especially those first early albums—I think you just get in your head. You put these, like, big headphones on; you can hear every little nuance, every pop, every little texture in your voice. It can throw you off.
I think I just figured out how to tap into an inspiration that doesn’t require an audience to do it. You know, you’ve got to tap into that to feel relaxed, to really go for things. And it just takes years and years of doing something in a certain environment to feel comfortable doing it.
Q: For this show in Buffalo, you are playing with the Texas Headhunters. What can you tell me about them?
Samantha Fish: Well, so that’s my friend Jesse Dayton’s new project with Ian Moore and Johnny Moeller. And I have not heard the new record; I’m really excited. They work with my management. And, obviously, I’m a Jesse Dayton fan, because we toured together for almost two years—and we made a record together. So, it’s nice to be able to come back together on the road in a different capacity.
He’s doing his new thing. I’m doing my new thing. I mean, anything he does is great. So, I’m excited to see what he’s going to do with these guys.
