Guitarist Samantha Fish hits the road again

Guitarist Samantha Fish is an artist on the rise. While she’s certainly made a name for herself as a blues dynamo through relentless touring over the past few years, things have gone awry. Really well lately. How well? Consider the following:

Last fall, Fish performed in Los Angeles at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival, a gathering of some of the best guitarists on the planet. Earlier this year, Fish was nominated for a Grammy Award—along with Jessie Dayton—for their collaborative album Death Wish BluesThis summer, she performed solo concerts and as part of Slash’s SERPENT festival tour, a traveling blues extravaganza.

This fall, she’ll join the Experience Hendrix tour, which features several guitarists (Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Eric Johnson, Zack Wylde, et al.) exploring Jimi Hendrix’s repertoire (the Houston stop on the tour is Thursday, Oct. 10, at the Bayou Music Center). Oh, and just a few weeks ago, Fish opened for the Rolling Stones on the final date of the band’s U.S. tour (see video below).
In the midst of all this action, she’ll fortunately have time to make a quick trip to Houston, where she’ll perform at the Heights Theater on Friday, August 2. Speaking from home between shows, Fish is enjoying a much-needed respite before hitting the road again. Lately, she’s been hanging out with a serious group of board guitarists. Is it dangerous to have so many guitarists in one place at one time?

“Everybody has taste, that’s the interesting thing,” Fish says. “Under normal circumstances, I guess I’d be terrified, but everybody’s a monster, but so elegant – they know when to play and when not to play.”

“I was a little nervous, thinking, ‘This is something you’ve wanted for a long time. Don’t mess it up!’”

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Focusing on Slash’s SERPENT tour, which includes Warren Haynes, Larkin Poe, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram and Eric Gales, Fish is understandably excited. “I think it’s going to be an incredible showcase, not just for guitar, of course, but for blues music, showing how diverse the genre is,” she says. “Every single artist on that bill is incredible. They’re doing their version, their interpretation of the blues, and it’s all different.”

“I think people have this idea that blues is very simple, that it’s just one thing. And in 2024, blues is like every other kind of music. Rock is not just one thing, it’s a lot of things. So I think it’s cool that people can see that.”

Returning to Clapton’s Crossroads festival, Fish says his presence marked the realization of a long-held ambition. “It’s something I’ve wanted to do since the very beginning of my career. So it was a full-circle moment for me, and I was a little nervous, like, ‘This is something you’ve wanted to do for a long time. Don’t mess it up!’ But everyone was so cool, it was so relaxed and so well organized. I really enjoyed the experience. I met a lot of wonderful people, people I admire, and it was a really unforgettable experience.”

But in the meantime, Fish is enjoying her little break before getting back on the tour bus. “The road is such a different environment than my life at home,” she says. “There’s this iron-clad routine; every day is the same as yesterday. I know what time I have to charge the batteries, there’s the sound check, and there’s a set schedule for the whole day.”

In addition to her solo dates, Samantha Fish will perform on Slash’s SERPENT tour this summer and the Experience Hendrix tour this fall.

Photography by Daniel Sanda

“The bus is completely isolated. There’s a time warp. But everyone in our band and our crew gets along really well, and I’m lucky for that, because it can be really depressing when people disagree.

“But when we have a day off, if we’re in a cool place, we want to go see cool things. In this group, we’re all tourists at heart. We just want to make the most of our time there, because you never know when you’re going to be able to go back.”

On the other hand, sometimes a quiet stopover isn’t a bad thing. “I remember staying in a place last year, like Utah, where there was only one hotel and one restaurant, and if you didn’t respect the opening hours, you were done for. And I remember that day so well, because we were all like, ‘Really? This is what we’re going to do?’”

“But we hung out in the parking lot, we did yoga, we went on a little hike. But it was pretty cool. I think everyone needed that day to recover. So sometimes it’s nice to do nothing. But if I can burn the candle at both ends, I absolutely will!”

Samantha Fish will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 2 at The Heights Theatre, 339 W. 19th St. For more information, call 214-272-8346 or visit TheHeightsTheater.com.

To learn more about Samantha Fish, visit SamanthaFish.com.