It\u2019s possible to count, on maybe a hand and a half, the number of women playing electric blues guitar, leading bands and thrilling worldwide audiences on a regular basis.<\/p>\n
Hey, it\u2019s a lot better than it was in the old days. \u201cThe only reason you\u2019re seeing more women playing music now is because of the internet,\u201d says guitarist Samantha Fish, who\u2019ll perform at the Tampa Bay Blues Festival this weekend. \u201cIt\u2019s opened our eyes to a number of artists that have been unable to get record deals, that weren\u2019t pushed to radio. There was no representation.\u201d<\/p>\n
A 37-year-old native of Kansas City, Missouri, Fish is one of the most popular blues guitarists on the circuit today. She is also a singer and songwriter who imbues the music she makes with elements of heavy rock \u2018n\u2019 roll (early heroes included Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page), jazz and R&B.<\/p>\n
Her roots, though are in Tennessee Hill Country blues guitar, and in the searing Texas-style shredding of Stevie Ray Vaughan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is part of the human psyche, both boys and girls,\u201d Fish continues. \u201cIf you don\u2019t see it happening, there\u2019s something in your brain that\u2019s wired to think maybe you can\u2019t do it. And I remember specifically, because I was like 15, when I started playing acoustic guitar. Just chords, just strummin\u2019 and singin.\u2019 I was watching Stevie Ray Vaughan videos and AC\/DC videos and like \u2018Man, I really want to play lead guitar.\u2019 But I didn\u2019t really see any women playing the guitar.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never verbalized this, but I remember thinking \u2018Girls don\u2019t do that.\u2019 And I didn\u2019t do it, for a couple years. It put me off a couple years of trying.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we can see it because the internet has blown the world wide open. It\u2019s not because the music industry has changed. There\u2019s still sexism, there\u2019s still inequality, there\u2019s still not equal pay for women doing the same job as men, bringing in the same number of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fish and her band play close to 200 dates each year. Her most recent album, 2025\u2019s Paper Doll, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Blues chart and was nominated for a Grammy. \u201cOverall,\u201d wrote Blues Rock Review, \u201cPaper Doll\u00a0is bold, fun, dynamic, and driven by a clear artistic voice. You get the sense Fish and her band had a blast making it, and that feeling is contagious.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s her seventh studio production.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea is that as you go, you\u2019re going to get more self assured, right?\u201d Fish says. \u201cAnd hopefully you\u2019re feeling a little more grounded and confident in who you are. Just where I\u2019m at in my career, I\u2019ve made a lot of records at this point, and I intend to make more. I always hope that they\u2019re getting better, and I truly believe that they are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Next out of the gate, coming in June, is her first major-label live album. Shows were recorded in Knoxville, Tennessee.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve recorded a song here or there live. We\u2019ve done some live sessions with Paste and Relix, just for them. And that was great, but this is a little different. We filmed it. We brought in the McCrary Sisters to sing on it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt like a good time to capture what we do live. Our fans have been asking for a live record for years. This is really for the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although her guitar prowess is Fish\u2019s calling card, she\u2019s justifiably proud of her song-crafting abilities. \u201cI live by the mantra that the song will tell you what it needs,\u201d she explains. \u201cYou play to serve the song, and if the song doesn\u2019t call for a rippin\u2019 solo, then you don\u2019t put it on the song.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously because of who I am, I\u2019ll never put out a record without some kind of guitar moment. That\u2019s what my fans expect; that\u2019s what I expect from myself.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I like most about being an artist is that I have the freedom to change my mind. I think that\u2019s the way to be your most authentic self, is to follow what\u2019s most striking to you right now. Chase that muse, or whatever.\u201d<\/p>\n
She intends to chase it wherever it takes her.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s still hard,\u201d Fish confesses. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve faced a lot of people talking shit; \u2018She\u2019s just got what she\u2019s got cause she\u2019s a girl.\u2019 I\u2019ve gotten what I\u2019ve got in spite of being a girl.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so happy to see more women picking up instruments. What\u2019s also refreshing is seeing more women in venues, holding down sound engineer positions, lighting positions, setting the stage. I never saw that 15, 20 years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is something to: If you can see it happening, then you can believe you can do it yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Samantha Fish and her band play at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, April 12.<\/p>\n
\u00a0The Tampa Bay Blues Festival, April 10-12 at St. Petersburg\u2019s Vinoy Park, also features headliners Taj Mahal, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Los Lobos, Tab Benoit, Jimmy Vaughan and others. For all information, and to purchase tickets, visit the official website<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s possible to count, on maybe a hand and a half, the number of women playing electric blues…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-221839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}