Samantha Fish on the top blues players right now, and why one of them is “an alien”
She might regularly appear in ‘best blues guitarist’ polls, but Samantha Fish doesn’t believe you can really rank musicians. “I feel like being a guitar player is all about self-expression,” she says in conversation with Guitar World. “So when you’re ranking guitar players, it’s tough for me, because I don’t think there’s one better way to do it.”
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But everyone has their own personal favourites, and during the interview the Kansas City guitarist name-drops a few. “I just got off the road with [Christone] Kingfish [Ingram], and he’s pretty amazing” she exclaims, before going on to list the other greats in her mind.
“I think Derek Trucks is one of the greatest there is, not just in blues playing but any playing. He’s an alien. I like Gary Clark Jr. – he’s very tasteful, and he’s got a great tone. Eric Gales is incredible. He just blows everybody away. Luther Dickinson is one of my favourite contemporaries, too. He’s awesome.”
UItimately, what matters to Samantha is having a distinctive sound, which she describes to Blues Blast back in October 2024, “I love anybody with a personality…so you can just turn (a song) on and you know exactly who is holding that guitar because they have that personality. I think Keith Richards has that personality. I think (of), obviously, B.B. King. I think Derek Trucks has that personality. Freddie King has that personality. I think Angus Young (of AC/DC), and I think of Jimmy Page.”
Samantha was lucky enough to play with her hero Keith Richards as opener for The Rolling Stones’ on their Hackney Diamonds US tour, which she found “humbling and mind-boggling”.
Slash also asked her to play at his own blues festival, the charity fundraiser S.E.R.P.E.N.T., alongside other giants like Warren Haynes, Keb’ Mo’ and Larkin Poe. She told Louder Sound that she was initially sceptical about the invite, “But then it actually came through and I thought, it’s a cool concept and such a cool lineup. All the acts are really incredible performers and it’s a really great thing to get to be a part of. I was stoked.”
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