Born in Kansas City in 1989, Samantha Fish picked up the guitar as a teenager and came of age in the blues and roots scene before relocating to New Orleans, a move that deepened and complicated her musical identity. The city offered her a broader palette — second-line rhythms, soul testifying, swamp funk — and she absorbed it without losing the directness and rawness that had defined her early work. By her mid-twenties she was one of the most talked-about young blues artists in the country.
Her Ruf Records debut, Black Wind Howlin’ (2013), announced her as a serious force, showcasing a guitar voice that drew on B.B. King and Buddy Guy while sounding entirely contemporary. Subsequent albums refined and expanded her approach: Wild Heart (2015) leaned into Southern rock territory, while Belle of the West (2017) explored acoustic textures and Americana. Kill or Be Kind (2019, Rounder) marked her commercial breakthrough, reaching a wider audience with its polished production and soulful songcraft.
New Orleans runs through Fish’s work as both environment and influence. She has cited the city’s blues and soul continuum — from Snooks Eaglin to Walter “Wolfman” Washington — as central to her development, and she has played New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival multiple times, each appearance confirming her status as a natural inheritor of the city’s guitar tradition. Her 2022 album Faster, co-produced with Martin Kierszenbaum, pushed toward a harder rock sound while retaining the emotional core that makes her live shows so compelling.
