Samantha Fish will be one of the many tremendous acts at this year’s Bourbon and Beyond Festival. Bourbon and Beyond has a new home. It is still in Louisville, Kentucky of course, but will call a new festival grounds home. This year, Bourbon and Beyond will take place at the Highland Festival Grounds at the Kentucky Expo. The previous location, Champions Park, had a terrible flood last year and day 2 of Bourbon and Beyond was cancelled. However, to make up for that, Bourbon and Beyond is now a 3 day festival. This means an additional day of bands, bourbon and best friends! How awesome is that? This will be Samantha Fish’s debut for Bourbon and Beyond. All I can say is be prepared to be wowed with her masterfully skilled guitar playing and showmanship. With that being said, let’s talk a little bit about Samantha Fish.
Samantha Fish is a blues rock guitarist and vocalist from Kansas City, Missouri. When she was first becoming interested in music, she started out playing the drums. But when she turned 15, she traded sticks for a pick. Samantha has a very distinct blues sound. If you take the old classic blues sound from the 30’s and 40’s and mix it with the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan, you have Samantha Fish. She is a shredding machine. Samantha digs deep down in her soul to bring out this groovy, soulful sound that you just do not hear much of anymore. She will capture your ears with her amazing blues technique and your eyes as well because this woman is nothing but beauty. She is a guitar solo extraordinaire. When you listen to a Samantha Fish album or watch her in concert, you are listening to her emotions. You are listening to her soul speak through her guitar. She will blow you away with the vocals alone, but when she starts riffing along on her guitar it’s like you’re experiencing a piece of heaven. Fish got her start when she recorded “Live Bait” (2009). This caught the attention of a talent company who recommended her to a record label named Ruf Records. When she signed to Ruf Records, she made an album with 2 other female blues guitarists, Cassie Taylor and Dani Wilde. This album was called “Girls with Guitars” (2011). If this hasn’t convinced you she is the real deal, how about impressing a blues legend? In the summer of 2013, Buddy Guy heard Samantha Fish and was so impressed with her, that he invited her up on stage to play with him. He quoted “When this kind of shit happens, I’ll play all night!.” Also, Fish joined Devon Allman, the son of the late Gregg Allman, on a song released in 2013 titled “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” which of course is a cover and was first recorded by Tom Petty/Stevie Nicks which I may add is superb. She is one of the hardest working artists around, she released not one but two albums in 2017 and she was awarded 2018’s Contemporary Blues Female Artist by The Blues Foundation. If that wasn’t enough she has now also started her own label Wild Heart Records. Her work ethic never stops and yet she has another new album coming out on September 20th called ‘Kill or Be Kind.’ Ironically, this album drops the day before her Bourbon and Beyond performance. She is scheduled to play the 2nd day, September 21st. If you’re a blues fan who loves to groove, feel soulful and see a lady shred a guitar like none other, then this show is for you. Be sure not to miss Samantha Fish it will be one of the finest blues experiences you’ve had to this day so pick up your tickets here!
