Samantha Fish

One of the most formidable guitarists of her generation, Samantha Fish deals in her own unmatched brand of bravado, bringing both mind-blowing power and extraordinary emotionality to everything she creates. The multi-award-winning festival headliner has built a triumphant career including earning a Grammy nomination for Death Wish Blues (her 2023 collaboration with rocker Jesse Dayton) and opening for The Rolling Stones on their final 2024 U.S. tour date. On her new album Paper Doll, Fish offers up nine powerhouse songs that hit with an unstoppable force. “It’s taken me years to finally find my voice in a studio setting,” Fish admits. “But with this record I took everything I had, and slammed it right on the table.”  

A consummate music obsessive who lists such eclectic artists as Prince, Leonard Cohen, and Black Sabbath among her influences, Fish found herself especially fascinated with Delta blues heroes like Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside in the writing of Paper Doll. As a born performer who got her start by thumbing through the phone book and cold-calling local bars for gigs in her mid-teens, Fish crafted every song on Paper Doll with an eye toward her incendiary live show.

Arguably her most accomplished work to date, Paper Doll emerged from Fish’s deliberate embracing of the ineffable musical gifts she’s cultivated almost her entire life. “I ended up pouring so much emotion into all the songs, and I hope they help people feel fired up and ready to take on anything that comes their way. I’d love for this record to be somebody’s jet fuel.”