There's no where to hide at the Token Lounge.
The YouTube video of Samantha Fish's show at the rock 'n' roll nightclub on the outskirts of Detroit in December tells a story: Fish hits the stage in black leather pants with a matching halter top, toting her four-string cigar-box guitar. She blasts into Bulletproof, a punchy rock anthem of hers, to the roar of an eager crowd. Despite the guitar giving her technical grief, she pushes on, bending wicked slide notes.
It's raw and rowdy, smooth and powerful, all at the same time. It's deep in classic, guitar-driven rock, the heart of America's music soul.
At age 33, Fish has been on the road playing for more than 12 years. Her instinctive sense of rock and blues is attracting bigger audiences in the US and Europe these days, and she continues a hectic touring schedule that puts her on the road for more than 200 shows a year.
Her only trip to Australia was in 2019 - where she played at Bluesfest, and she's looking forward to her eight-show run here in February (playing Lizotte's in Newcastle on February 17).
Talking down the line from her home in Kansas City, before embarking on a run beginning in Waco, Texas, she summarises her drive to succeed in simple terms.
"For me it is, because every night it's something a little new," she says. "You get to reconnect. For me, it's like I'm reconnecting with why I started doing it in the first place, I fell in love with the stage, I fell in love with that buzz and that adrenaline. But performing is, you know, in front of an audience and just growing as an entertainer and singer, songwriter and guitar player.
"It's been a journey... it's been a journey."
Her motivation has never been sidetracked. In so many ways, it was encouraged, getting snatches of stage time in her youth at Kansas City's famous blues club, Knuckleheads, and finding herself on stage with legends like Buddy Guy.
"I do feel like, in a way, once I realised this is what I want to do in life, it became a singular mission, you know. My life's goal," she says. "There hasn't been much to deter me from it as far as thinking maybe I should do something else."
Her talent was recognised quickly. Luther Dickinson, lead guitarist and vocalist for the North Mississippi Allstars, has produced two of her albums. Her last album, Faster, in 2021, was produced by Martin Kierzsenbaum (also a musician, known as Cherry Cherry Boom Boom) who's production credits include Lady Gaga.
She's been on the Rounder Records label since 2019, a legendary blues and roots label, whose line-up includes Billy Strings, Bela Fleck, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, and Steve Martin.
While she is fresh out of the studio recording a new album and music with rambling blues artist Jesse Dayton, the tour and promotion for that isn't scheduled until mid-2023. In the meantime, she's still touring on the energy of her Faster album, made in 2021 but stalled from touring at the time by the pandemic.
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It's the band from the Faster album that she is touring with, including keyboard player Matt Wade, drummer Sarah Tomek and bass player Ron Johnson. With the influence of a new producer (Kierzsenbaum), it's got a shade more pop and hip-hop, but it's unmistakably rock.
Coming to Australia means she's got to pack a little lighter - four guitars (including that four-string box cigar beauty) are coming instead of her usual "guitar rodeo" of eight she takes on the road. And her personal stage wardrobe will be smaller - more mix-n-match than she's used to.
"Since I was a kid I've always been fascinated with Australia," she says. "I mean a lot of American kids are. I'm obsessed with your accents, the animals and the food, it's like a faraway land.
"I never imagined myself getting the opportunity to perform there. And it's so far away. It's pretty cool for me, growing up a kid in Kansas City, to go and perform in this place, what do yo guys call it, Oz."
But she'll be fine, as long as she has that one staple in her life: coffee.
"I definitely need a cup of coffee every single morning like every other normal functioning adult," she says. "Coffee is the baseline, everything else is just a perk after that.
"I don't know if you do wine, I've been into red wines, probably since the pandemic, when everybody started to drink at home. Now I've got a palate, and it's kind of cool to taste different wines from different places."
