7th Annual Kearney Blues Fest
Samantha Fish, Katy Guillen & The Girls, Brandon Miller Band and South Side Souls
Sponsor: Westbrook Care Center
5:00pm Saturday, May 24th, 2014 Kearney Amphitheater
Price: $15.00 at the Gate
Samantha Fish
Take
cover: there's a storm coming. With its lyrical thunderbolts, lightning-flash
fretwork and ground-shaking grooves, Black
Wind Howlin' is a record to blow your roof off - and Samantha Fish has
stood at the eye of the hurricane. "It has a rebellious streak,"
says the bandleader of her game-changing new album, "and a prevalent theme is,
'I'm not gonna take your sh*t anymore...'"
Released in September 2013 on Ruf Records, Black Wind Howlin' flips a finger at the
cliché of the 'difficult second album', firing off 12 classic tracks that chart
Samantha's evolution as songwriter, gunslinger and lyricist. "Since
completing Runaway back in 2011," she
reflects of her solo debut, "I've been on tour pretty much non-stop. I've spent
a lot of time writing, playing and listening to music. I feel like the themes
and the sound of my music have matured. To me, it's about the human experience
from my perspective, as well as people I've come into contact with over the
last few years."
While
lesser artists work to a template or settle into a pigeonhole, Samantha shifts
her shape across the Black Wind Howlin'
tracklisting. She can be brutally rocking on cuts like the tour bus snapshot of
"Miles To Go" ("Twelve hours to Reno/ten hours til the next show"), the swaggering "Sucker
Born" ("Vegas left me weary, LA bled me dry/skating on
fumes as I crossed the Nevada line...") and the venomous "Go To Hell" ("Oh, this
ain't my first rodeo/You hit yourself a dead end/Your voodoo
eyes, ain't gonna cast a spell/So you can go to hell!"). "I've become
tougher," she notes of these head-banging moments, "and I think that was
reflected in the sound we went for."
And yet,
elsewhere, backed by the versatile production of Royal Southern Brotherhood
guitarist and longtime collaborator Mike Zito, you'll find Samantha shifting
gears to the aching slide-guitar balladry of "Over You" ("Echoing words, said
I'd never make it on my own...") and the redemptive country strum, "Last
September" ("Don't remember the
curves of my face/Can't feel the warmth in my embrace/Well I'm
here to remind you...").
She might
stop off for a gritty cover of Howlin' Wolf's "Who's Been Talking," and
co-wrote "Go To Hell" with Zito, but all other tracks are Samantha's
self-penned originals, and it's a mix to keep listeners on their toes. "I wanted this
record to have a modern rocking sound," she explains of the light-footed vibe.
"I also wanted it to have elements of Americana,
country and roots."
The sessions
proved just as rewarding as the writing. As a seasoned road warrior who will
spend much of 2013 burning tarmac, recording at
Dockside Studios in Maurice, Louisiana was a rare chance for
Samantha to put down roots, flanked by a first-call band that included Royal
Southern Brotherhood rhythm section Yonrico Scott (drums) and Charlie Wooton
(bass), back-up guitar and vocals from Zito, plus guest appearances from Johnny
Sansone (harmonica), Bo Thomas (fiddle on "Last September") and Paul Thorn
(vocals on "Go To Hell"). "I had a dream team of musicians and special guests,"
she recalls. "And Dockside Studios quickly became one of my favorite places on
earth."
But it was another venue, some years earlier, that set
Samantha on her musical path. The songwriter recalls her first musical taste as
the classic rock of The Rolling Stones and Tom Petty, alongside contemporary
artists like Sheryl Crow and The Black Crowes, but after several underage
clandestine visits to the Knuckleheads Saloon blues club in her native Kansas
City, she followed the thread from modern masters like Zito and Tab Benoit,
through fallen '80s heroes like Stevie Ray Vaughan, right back to the pre-war
Delta masters. "I fell in love with it," she told Premier
Guitar of her growing passion for the form, "and started doing my homework
by listening to the old guys like Son House and Skip James."
Soon enough, appreciation for the blues had spilled
over into application, and by the age of 18, Samantha had settled on a searing
lead guitar style that expressed her own voice rather than mimicking the
clichéd blues licks note-for-note. Home practice didn't scratch the itch, and
she broke into a dues-paying period on the Kansas City jam circuit: an apprenticeship at
the sharp end that tightened her musical chops, polished her stagecraft and
gave her the grit to overcome occasional skepticism about her age, hair tone
and gender. "I always hated the idea of the gimmick," she told Premier Guitar. "People come out just because you are a girl, but
then you have so much more to prove once you get them in the door."
But Samantha
got them in - and kept them in - and after an early
live recording from Knuckleheads found its way into the hands of label supremo
Thomas Ruf, the young bandleader's trajectory was changed from dreamer to
signed artist. Fish's first appointment for the label was to join Cassie Taylor
and Dani Wilde on the 2011 Girls With
Guitars album: a whip-cracking three-female release that the trio doused
with added rocket fuel on Ruf's famous Blues Caravan tour of Europe and the US
that year. "I don't get that whole competitive thing, especially when I play with
the girls," insisted Samantha. "When you start trying to get over the top of
somebody, you lose what makes it great. That's when you lose the musical aspect
of it."
With her name buzzing on the blues scene and the iron
hot, Samantha struck again that same year with Runaway, her solo debut on Ruf. With ten hot tracks - of which nine
were originals - and production once again from Zito, this was a debut album
that announced the depth of this newcomer's talent, mixing up gutsy riff-blues
rockers like "Down In The Swamp" with the mellow small-hours jazz of "Feelin'
Alright," while marinating her songwriting in the groove of the Rolling Stones
and even tipping a hat to Heart. "It's all the sounds I grew up with," she
explained, "with my own spin."
Hitting a receptive international rock press, Runaway was hailed as a thrilling
opening gambit, earning a string of rave reviews and accolades, of which the Blues
Music Award (BMA) for 'Best New Artist Debut' in 2012 was perhaps the most auspicious.
"I'm truly humbled by the recognition," Samantha admitted. "I can barely wait
to make record number two..."
So here it is. Harder, darker, bolder and better than
even its revered predecessor, this is the sound of an artist on the brink of
the big-time with both hands on the wheel. "I really got to do
exactly what I wanted to do on Black Wind
Howlin'," says Samantha, "and I'm incredibly proud of it..."
Katy Guillen
Katy Guillen and The Girls, out of Kansas City, MO, formed in September of 2012. The blues-influenced roots rock trio is made up of Katy Guillen (guitar, vocals), Claire Adams (bass, vocals), and Stephanie Williams (drums). The group's sound is characterized by Guillen's searing, lively guitar licks; Williams' heavy, driving drums; and Adams' rock solid bass lines. Guillen's soulful vocals backed by Adams' intense harmonies add a fierce punch to Guillen's songwriting. KG&G draw influences everywhere from rock and roll contemporaries like Heartless Bastards and the timeless guitar god Jimi Hendrix to sweet songstress Patty Griffin. They've been known to pack a blues and BB-Q roadhouse, just as easily as they will fill up a multi bill alternative venue.
Brandon Miller Band
The Brandon Miller Band is an exploration into the blues spectrum. They are
in the midst of creating and writing their own music and tailoring select blues
gems for substantial 2010 shows. We invite you to experience a truly explosive
celebration of music.
Brandon Miller has been very popular in the Kansas City area now for several years. This
young guitarist plays with the finesse and skill of a player twice his age.
While being influenced by many other great blues musicians, his interpretation
and style of blues will hit you with a sense of emotion . . . and he will mean
every note of it. Let the tones soak into your heart as you listen and enjoy
his heavy blues-influenced style.
Check out The Brandon Miller Band's music and tour
schedule at http://www.brandonmillerband.net.
South Side Souls
Rooted in classic blues tradition and bound by
our shared love of music and the way it shapes our lives. We are the constant
melody that is a different shade of the blues.
Ryan L. Marcotte
Assistant Director, Parks & Recreation
The City of Kearney
100 E. Washington
P.O. Box 797
Kearney, Mo. 64060
816-903-4730 (office)
816-903-4747 (fax)
info@kearneyamphitheater.com
Eric Marshall
Director, Parks & Recreation
Emarshall@ci.kearney.mo.us
816-903-4724
Directions from Kansas City, Missouri:
- Take I-35 N towards Des Moines
- Take the MO-92 exit (6th street), EXIT 26, Turn Right onto MO-92
- Follow MO-92 (6th Street) to Jefferson, Turn Left
- Take Jefferson N through town to Jesse James Park (~ 2-3 miles)
Directions from St. Joseph, Missouri:
- Take I-229 S to I-29 S
- Continue to the MO-92 exit, EXIT 18, toward Smithville Lake (~25 Miles)
- Turn Left onto MO-92, continue on until Jefferson St in Kearney (~23 Miles),
- Turn Left
- Take Jefferson N through town to Jesse James Park (~ 2-3 miles)
Click here for a Google Map
Children 10 and under are free, unless otherwise noted
*Gates open 1 hour before each event
Blankets & Lawn Chairs are suggested.
Be courteous, kind, and helpful to your fellow festival goers.
Kearney Amphitheater Rules:
- No Tents (Pop-up or otherwise)
- No Outside Food/Drink or Coolers
- No Pets in Amphitheater Area
- No Fireworks at Any Time
- Non-Alcoholic Tailgating Only
Join Our Mailing List
Click here to view Concessions
Media
|