PHOTOS: DENNIS McDONOUGH | 28-year old blues phenom Samantha Fish and her five piece band complete with horns got the crowd warmed up for headliner Robert Cray with a scintillating set of scorching uptempo songs and haunting ballads.
Fish, who grew up in Kansas City and now resides in New Orleans, is a powerful live performer. Her guitar work shows the influences of the blues greats that came before her including Buddy Guy and her mentor Mike Zito. But it’s her voice, particularly on the slow burn numbers, which sets her apart from other female blues and roots musicians.
As a singer, she fully invests herself in each song and despite her young age, the blues being a style that needs to be lived in for a while, she comes across emotionally. She can really sell a song.
As a guitarist, she has the chops to spare, but a couple of her solos demonstrated the need for more life experiences to fully convey the emotional resonance that is so key to the blues. In the future, she will be a formidable force for sure.
