Blues

Ne cherchez plus le disque de l’année! Il tourne actuellement sur ma platine. C’est “Belle of the West”, de SAMANTHA FISH. Et le problème majeur avec le deuxième opus de la Dame, après son excellent “Chills & Fever” au début de l’an 2017 et chroniqué sur PARIS-MOVE, ICI, réside dans le choix suivant: soit je choisis le premier titre et je l’écoute en boucle, soit je fais de même pour le second titre, ou pour le troisième… et ainsi de suite, jusqu’à la fin de l’opus, soit j’écoute l’album dans son intégralité, en le faisant tourner en boucle, le doigt collé à la touche “replay”. En effet, SAMANTHA FISH, la ravissante jeune femme de Kansas City, chante vraiment très bien, aussi bien sur ses propres compositions que sur les reprises de R.L. Burnside, “Poor Black Mattie”, de Lillie Mae, “Nearing Home”, au chant et au violon, ou de Jimbo Mathus, Fender Rhodes, harmonica et chant, dont la composition donne le titre à l’album. Ce même Jimbo qui est venu en renfort pour l’enregistrement, dans les studios Zebra Ranch dans les North Hills Of Mississippi où l’opus a été réalisé, crèmerie habituelle de Luther Dickinson et de ses North Mississippi All Stars. On se souvient d’ailleurs que c’est déjà lui qui avait produit l’album “Wild Heart” de la Blueswoman talentueuse. Rien d’étonnant donc à ce qu’il réitère avec le cinquième album studio et qu’il y joue de la mandoline et de la guitare. Les musiciens qui ont participé à lé réalisation de ce disque ont été triés sur le volet et sont passés experts en ce qui concerne le Blues particulier de cette région. Que ce soit joué en acoustique ou en électrique, les musiques sont toutes excellentes. Le grand Lightnin’ Malcolm est de la partie, à la guitare, à l’harmonica ou au chant, Amy Lavere est au chant et à la contrebasse, Tikyra Jackson à la batterie et au chant, Trina Raimey à la batterie et Sharde Thomas aux fifres et au violon. Avec “Belle of the West” vous avez droit à onze titres sur lesquels la voix de SAMANTHA FISH vous secoue les tripes et dans lesquels les arrangements musicaux vous laissent pantois! Onze titres fantastiques qui placent l’artiste parmi les très grandes songwriter et storyteller du Blues!
Un album “Coup de Coeur” proposé par l’excellent label allemand RUF Records.
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Dominique Boulay
Paris-Move & Blues Magazine (Fr)
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Site web de Ruf Records – When The Blues Crosses Over: RUF RECORDS
Pour commander en ligne ce nouvel album de SAMANTHA FISH: “Belle of the West”

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Whether one leans towards the blues, opts for Americana or ignites some special fervor by playing with a garage band, there’s a common bond that suggests a reverence for the roots. Looking back towards an earlier template — no matter what the genre — proves the point that appreciating what came before can be a stepping stone for what comes next.

Samantha Fish knows that all too well, and it’s been evidenced in the music she’s made her entire career. While she’s well known as a purveyor of blues, having been lauded by such legends as Buddy Guy, the Royal Southern Brotherhood and Luther Dickinson, her real love is simply raw, scrappy rock and roll. “I grew up on it,” she insists. “Working with Luther on my last album further instilled that spirit in me. It made me realize just how much that basic, unfettered sound means to me, and how well it ties into soul music, R&B, country and so many other forms of music that are essential even today.”

It’s little wonder then that when it came time to record her new album, Chills & Fever (released March 17, 2017), Fish ventured off in another new direction, one she was exploring for the first time in her career. She traveled to the land of the legendary Motown Detroit and joined forces with members of the Detroit Cobras, a band whose insurgent ethic has made them darlings of the Midwest punk/blues scene. The two entities — which included Joe Mazzola on guitar, Steve Nawara on bass, and Kenny Tudrick along with Bob Mervak on keys, and the New Orleans horn section featuring Mark Levron and Travis Blotsky on trumpet and saxophone — bonded over a common love of classic soul and rollicking rhythms, so much so that the results testify to a seemingly timeless template. Covering songs from the ‘60s and ‘70s — indelible melodies from the pens of legends like Jackie DeShannon, Jerry Ragavoy, Bert Berns and Allen Toussaint — along with producer Bobby Harlow (King Tuff, The Gap Dream, White Fang), a member of the Detroit band The Go, which also featured Jack White prior to his stint with the White Stripes. With that as her starting point, Fish and the band then created an album that’s best described as a pure slab of rocking rhythm n’ blues.

“I listened to a lot of soul music, and I dug deep into people like Otis Redding and Ray Charles,” Fish recalls. “I was also influenced by people like R.L. Burnside and North Mississippi’s Junior Kimbrough. It’s a lot less restrained style of music than the sound people may be used to hearing from me, but it’s definitely a different facet of my personality. It’s far more straight forward.”

The fact is, Fish has never been bound by any expectations whatsoever. Growing up in Kansas City, she switched from drums to guitar at the tender age of 15. She spent much of her time in local watering holes listening to visiting blues bands. Samantha caught the attention of Ruf Records. The label subsequently released her album, Girls with Guitars, which found her co-billed with Cassie Taylor and Dani Wilde. That led to her forming her own trio and recording three more albums, Runaway (2011), Black Wind Howlin’ (2013) and Wild Heart (2015), as reaping an awards for Best Artist Debut at the 2012 Blues Music Awards in Memphis. Along the way she found herself working with other artists as well — Jimmy Hall, Devon Allman, and Reese Wynans, among them.

Still, nothing she’s done before can prepare her faithful fans and followers to the seminal sounds of Chills & Fever.

I don’t think I ever enjoyed making a record quite as much as I enjoyed making this one,” Fish insists. “I love the sound of the brass and the edgier intensity. One thing’s for sure. Nothing ever felt so authentic.”