Samantha Fish

Samantha Fish sees herself as a modern blues pioneer: "I'm never gonna be a traditional blues artist because that's not who I am. I'm never gonna do Muddy Waters better than Muddy Waters, so I have to be who I am and find my best voice." As a result she has forged her own modern slant on the blues, nurturing her growing reputation as an outstanding guitarist.

Growing up in a musical family listening to classic rock in Kansas City, she initially took up drums but switched to guitar in her mid-teens and was captivated by the blues artists she would see at her local club Knuckleheads; by the age of 18 she was up on stage performing with them. This resulted in her debut album 'Live Bait' in 2009, which led to her being signed by Ruf Records and put her together with two other fine guitarists Cassie Taylor and Dani Wilde on the album 'Girls With Guitars' and she subsequently joined a Ruf Records tour across America and Europe.

She then continued to tour with her own Samantha Fish Band and, mentored by Mike Zito, she made another significant leap with the 2011 album 'Runaway' which won her the Best New Artist prize at the 2012 Blues Artist Awards. Her second major album 'Black Wind Howlin'' appeared in 2013 with Mike Zito and members of the group Royal Southern Brotherhood, breaking into the Billboard Blues Chart, followed by 'Wild Heart' in 2015 which moved her away from straight blues towards roots rock.

Recorded with the Detroit Cobras 'Chills & Fever' (2017) won her lots of acclaim, with covers of songs by the likes of Allen Toussaint and Jackie de Shannon. She switched styles again on the follow-up 'Belle of the West', topping the Billboard Blues Album Chart with a softer approach that found her developing her songwriting as she drew on country and Americana.