Samantha Fish
Center for the Arts, Grass Valley
December 13, 2024
The Fillmore, San Francisco
December 16, 2024
Photos by Paul Piazza
Blues sensation Samantha Fish recently barnstormed through Northern California with a trio of fantastic shows. One was in Grass Valley at the Center for the Arts, another was at the Golden State Theatre in Monterey, and the final one was at the Fillmore in San Francisco. SF Sonic was there for two of the three shows.
Fish was headlining a tour featuring two fantastic guest artists, Cedric Burnside and Jon Spencer. They were the perfect two to have on tour. It was Fish’s intention with this tour, to honor the Mississippi Hills blues style, which she grew up listening to while discovering music as a youngster in Kansas. One of the particular artists that turned her on to this style of music was the swaggering stylings of R.L. Burnside. And both of these guys have a connection to him in more ways than one.
Cedric Burnside is the grandson of Mississippi Hills blues legend R.L. Burnside and a stylist of traditional blues. Spencer became well known with the punk blues outfit Jon Spencer and the Blues Explosion, but was also known for founding Pussy Galore and being in the band Boss Hog.
Young Cedric Burnside was already out on the road drumming with his grandfather R.L. Burnside by the age of 13. He is now 46 and has established a solid career of his own as a frontman on guitar and vocals, who occasionally plays drums. His father was the drummer in R.L. Burnside’s band until young Cedric replaced him. Cedric’s latest record is called “Hill Country Love,” which is nominated for a Traditional Blues Grammy in 2025.
Around the same time that Cedric Burnside was playing with his dad and grandad, Spencer and the Blues Explosion had exploded onto the scene in the early 90s with their blues with a punk rock bent.
After Jon Spencer and the Blues Explosion’s second full length record, they collaborated with the elder Burnside on the landmark 1996 recording A Ass Pocket Full of Whiskey. This was the record that was cited by Fish as a big inspiration for putting together this tour. It’s a record that is characterized by its rumbling, fuzzy, and feral blues, punctuated by sidesplitting diatribes by Burnside with Spencer exhorting him in the background. It was a record that introduced both Burnside and Spencer to bigger audiences and remains a great listen to this day if you are in the mood for something like this. In recent times, Spencer produced Fish’s 2023 album Death Wish Blues, a collaborative effort with Jesse Dayton. So coming into this tour, there was a lot of familiarity and mutual admiration. But the trio hadn’t previously toured together in this iteration.
Our first look at the road show, was on a chilly Friday night in Grass Valley. The seated audience, who likely had come prepared for a more traditional-type, blues kind of night, seemed a bit taken aback by Spencer’s abrasive style at first. But by the end of the night, he had most of them in stitches.
After a 35-minute set by Spencer, the young Burnside emerged with his own sturdy trio. They played a comparably sweeter sounding set that included a very nice take on his grandfather’s classic “Poor Black Mattie.” This was from the recent Hill Country Love album, which was recorded in Ripley, Mississippi and produced by Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi All Stars.
After the two opening sets, Fish came out roaring with a cover MC5’s “Kick out the Jams,” that reflects another recent obsession with Detroit music that may have started when she recorded 2017’s Chills and Fever with the Detroit Cobras as her backing band. She played “Either Way I Lose” and “Somebody’s Always Trying” from that fabulous standards record on this night. And she spent the better part of the night flooring the audience with an astounding performance of blistering guitar and powerful vocals drawn.
What many people are starting to realize, is that this hard-working 35-year-old vocalist/guitarist has evolved into one of the best artists in contemporary blues today. While expanding her reach, Fish remains focused on a quest to explore new sounds and create stunning interpretations. She has been on a steady upward arc for over a decade now. Earlier this year, she was invited to play on Slash’s S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival, along with some musical heavyweights like Warren Haynes, Keb Mo, and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram. She more than held her own, often being cited as the highlight of the amazing touring show. Fish has also received some nice accolades. She was awarded the Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year in 2018 and received a 2024 Grammy nomination for Death Wish Blues. But the quest for sound and tone is what seems to drive her, and it has been amazing thing to witness her soar to new heights as both a guitarist and vocalist.
And while Fish has toured with a variety of great players over the years, her current band may be her best. The razor sharp players behind her include the great bassist Ron Johnson, who was in Greg Allman’s band and has also toured with Anders Osborne, Warren Haynes, and Chris Cain. Keyboardist Mickey Finn intersected with Spencer when he played with punk blues band Boss Hogg and was also with The Miracles for a time. Drummer Jamie Douglas has been in bands with Shooter Jennings, Duff McCagen, Brandi Carlile, Tanya Tucker. That is some mighty fine company on stage.
After Fish, demolished the place with a shattering version of her cigar box guitar smoker “Bulletproof,” she concluded with a beautiful “Dream Girl.” Next Burnside joined her for a killer take on “Black Wind Howlin.” Then things got absolutely crazy. Spencer crept out onstage again as the band launched into “Shake ‘Em On Down,” and the resulting jam was a hootenanny as Spencer concocted a tale about an imaginary love triangle with Fish, Burnside, and himself. He was the forlorn lover, cast aside for greener pastures with Burnside. It was awesome. The spectacle, as he ranted and emoted, had the audience deeply engaged and also in stitches. Same could be said for Fish and Burnside, who both were trying to play along while containing laughs. It was a wildly entertaining affair. Of course, the laughs paused enough for them to really lay into the song and everything kicked another notch higher. Beautiful, powerhouse of a finish and then everyone in the crowd wandered out invigorated into the rainy night.
Three nights later, the tour rolled into the Fillmore. Patrons were greeted with fresh and juicy apples in the legendary vestibule at the top of the stairs. It’s important to pause at this point, and to take in the wall of historic photos from countless incredible shows and performers from the last five plus decades in this venue. Once inside the concert room, and things got going, the stand-up crowd seemed a bit more familiar with Spencer as he emerged and this seemed to energize his set as he leapt into action. He responded with another dynamic set that included a few leaps and exhortations to the crowd before exiting the stage. Burnside followed with a set that had a little more energy as well. This time he played “Shake ‘Em On Down” during his energized set. His trio left the stage with the crowd fired up for the headliner.
Fish was locked and loaded as she blasted off once more with “Kick Out the Jams,” then proceeded to blast through a set that included a super sweet version of “Chills and Fever,” which was originally done by Johnny Love and his Orchestra. Spencer joined her on the encore without Burnside this time around, but it was still a doozy. The pair played “Snake Drive” from the Ass Pocket Full of Whiskey album. Again Spencer played the scorned and forlorn ex-love interest and at one point he begged Fish to just use him as a step stool. And she did, putting one foot on his back as he kneeled and she ripped on the guitar. It was all fantastic and received with enthusiasm from the crowd.
As things wound down, and the fog settled on San Francisco a little before midnight, people wandered out of legendary venue and knew that they had just witnessed another kick ass night on this amazing tour run.