Article and photos by Wendy Podmenik Woodell

VA BEACH, VA– It’s time for this star to rise.

Just earlier this year, Samantha Fish, with Jesse Dayton, was nominated for Best Contemporary Blues Album Death Wish Blues. While the award eventually went to Larkin Poe, there has been buzz about Samantha Fish for years- particularly in the Hampton Roads region in Virginia, which boasts a strong original Blues scene.

Samantha tours through coastal VA on an almost annual basis, and this year she stopped at music venue Elevation 27 to headline Ruf Records 30^th anniversary celebratory tour. This tour also features upcoming talent Ghalia Volt, established artists Canned Heat, with Mitch Ryder and Bernard Allison dropping in as guest talents.

Background on Ms. Fish: raised in the Kansas City area, she and her sister Amanda Fish both displayed musical talent, drawn to primarily Blues and Rock. Influenced by greats such as Bonnie Raitt and The Rolling Stones, Samantha started her musical career at the age of 20. Signed by Ruf Records, she started touring in America and Europe.

By 2021, she had released her 7^th album Faster, and had been relentlessly working and gaining respect for her flawless vocals and masterful guitar work. In 2023, she released Death Wish Blues– with the resulting award nomination. A prolific and talented songwriter, she manages to find time while touring to continually create and she has stated that she is exhilarated by the raw energy of live gigs.

The Virginia Beach show was the prefect example of that. Dressed in a brilliant red catsuit, she immediately tore into her set with fiery licks and an aggressive, sultry blues queen presence. Set List:

Kick Out the Jams

Wild Heart

Better Be Lonely

Chills and Fever

Po Mattie

Tough Kid w/ Mitch Ryder

Buick 6 w/ Mitch Ryder

Either Way I lose

Bulletproof

Somebody’s Always Tryin’

Dreamgirl

Black Wind Howlin’

Encore with Bernard Allison

The Ruf Records tour concludes on 11/24, and Samantha picks up the Shake ‘Em on Down tour with Cedric Burnside and Jon Spencer in December. In 2025, she will rejoin the Experience Hendrix tour through the southern US.

For latest information, please visit https://www.samanthafish.com/