Samantha Fish is nothing short of a blues phenomenon, a white-hot guitarist, singer, and songwriter who continues to add depth and breadth to her performances and recordings as her meteoric career progresses. Several years ago, readers of Guitar World named the young Missouri native the seventh best blues guitarist in the world, behind Clapton and Bonamassa but ahead of veterans like Billy Gibbons, Gary Clark, Jr., and Warren Haynes, and she is on track to become one of the greatest blues artists of our modern times.
Fish, born in 1989, was raised in Kansas City. She played drums until her mid-teens before switching to guitar, and was influenced by the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and the Rolling Stones.
Her 2009 debut album, Live Bait, attracted the attention of Ruf Records, which matched her with fellow string wizards Cassie Taylor and Dani Wilde on tour and on the 2011 album Girls With Guitars. Fish capitalized on this exposure, forming her own band, heading out on the road, and recording Runaway, the breakout recording that garnered a 2012 Blues Music Award for Best New Artist and launched Fish’s career. She has recorded several albums since then, including the acclaimed 2019 release, Kill to Be Kind and the 2025 release, Paper Doll. She garnered a 2023 Grammy nomination for her collaboration with Jesse Dayton on Death Wish Blues, and opened for the Rolling Stones on their final 2024 American tour date,
She has performed and recorded with a Who’s Who of the blues world, including Buddy Guy, Devon Allman, Jimmy Hall, members of the Detroit Cobras, Reese Wynans, Kate Moss, Yonrico Scott, Johnny Sansone, “Go Go Ray” Pollard, Lightning Malcolm, Charles Hodges, Chris Alexander, Doug Bellote, Austin Clements, and her mentor, Mike Zito. Behind-the-scenes partnerships include working with veteran songwriters like Jim McCormick, fellow New Orleanian Anders Osborne, and Parker Millsap.
Fish is known for her classic guitars - a 1956 Danelectro Baritone, a Gibson SG Standard, and her own Delaney SF1 Samantha Fish Signature Telecaster. She is also famous for her love of the classic cigar box guitar. Fish picked up her first cigar box guitar in Helena, Arkansas while playing the King Biscuit Blues Festival, and fell in love. She became a vocal advocate for the instrument, performing at and headlining New Orleans’ Samantha Fish Cigar Box Guitar festival each January through 2021.
