Real music. Real people.
Samantha Fish has released her latest single, “Don’t Say It,” a slow-burning track featuring Nashville gospel legends The McCrary Sisters.
The release arrives hot on the heels of her eighth appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and serves as a preview of her forthcoming live album, Paper Doll Live, due via Rounder Records on 12th June.
The track is one of the more emotionally intricate moments on the record. “It’s one of those songs that builds gradually – a slow-burn reveal where one person is fighting for the validity of a relationship while the other is emotionally checked out,” says Fish.
“It was incredible having the McCrary Sisters on this track. They weave in and out of the harmonies and add so much heart and depth.”
The McCrary Sisters are no strangers to adding soul and weight to a recording, and their contribution here underlines just how carefully Fish has assembled this project. Their harmonies lift the song without overpowering it – a delicate balance that speaks to the strength of the collaboration.
Paper Doll Live is Samantha Fish’s first official live album – Paper Doll Live – and it documents a performance recorded at the historic Bijou Theatre. Captured before a packed crowd with the band firing on all cylinders, the album presents Fish in the environment where she has always been at her most compelling – on stage, in the moment, with nowhere to hide.
The album draws from across her catalogue, spanning towering performances of “Lose You” and “Sweet Southern Sounds” alongside a blistering take on the MC5 classic “Kick Out the Jams.” It is a set that moves between vulnerability and ferocity, held together by a band that sounds genuinely locked in.
“There’s a fire that comes across in live performance that doesn’t always translate in studio albums,” Fish says. “The stage lays all of that bare.”
That instinct for performance has been central to everything Samantha Fish has built. Emerging from Kansas City’s blues lineage, she began cold-calling bars as a teenager before working her way up to headline slots at international festivals.
Her influences stretch wide – from Prince and Leonard Cohen to the legends of Mississippi Hill Country blues – and that breadth shows in a live show that refuses to be pinned down to a single mood or genre.
Fish is a two-time GRAMMY nominee who has earned her reputation the old-fashioned way, night after night on stage. Critics have described her live show as “wild, raunchy… an absolute must-see” and praised her for “savage guitar work and commanding stage presence.” Paper Doll Live is the document that makes that case in full.
“If Paper Doll was a declaration of artistic power,” Fish says, “Paper Doll Live is the sound of that power unleashed.”
The studio album Paper Doll, released in 2023, was another entry in a catalogue that has consistently topped the Billboard Blues Charts. Her solo discography includes Runaway (2011), Black Wind Howlin’ (2013), Wild Heart (2015), Chills & Fever (2017), Kill or Be Kind (2019), Faster (2021), and the collaborative Deathwish Blues (2023) with Jesse Dayton – every one of them a chart performer, and every one of them feeding into a live show that grows with each release.
A Kansas City Hall of Famer and multiple Blues Music Award-winner, Samantha Fish has shared stages with Slash and The Rolling Stones, and has performed as part of Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Festival.
She has built a global following not through shortcuts, but through relentless touring and a refusal to deliver anything less than her best.
Paper Doll Live arrives as both a statement and a celebration – proof that one of contemporary roots music’s most gifted performers is at the peak of her powers.
Paper Doll Live is available to pre-order now on vinyl, CD, and digital ahead of its 12th June release. Additional tour dates have also been announced, with tickets on sale now.
Tickets Available from samanthafish.com
5.14 Marion, IL Marion – Cultural & Civic Center
5.16 Welch, MN – Treasure Island Casino**
5.17 Des Plaines, IL – The Des Plaines Theatre
5.19 Warrendale, PA – Jergel’s Rhythm Grille
5.20 State College, PA – The State Theatre
5.21 Troy, NY – Troy Savings Bank Music Hall
5.22 Ledyard, CT – Foxwoods Resort Casino **
5.23 Beverly, MA – The Cabot
5.24 Nashua, NH – Nashua Center for the Arts
5.27 Patchogue, NJ – Patchogue Theatre
5.28 Syracuse, NY – Westcott Theater
5.29 Lebanon, NH – Levanon Opera House
5.30 Augusta, NJ – Michael Arnone’s Crawfish Fest
5.31 Buffalo, NY – Babeville
6.19 Grolloo, Netherlands – Holland Intl Blues Festival
6.20 Dortmund, Germany – Musiktheater Piano
6.21 Chiari, Italy – Istituto Salesiaino “San Bernadino”
6.23 Loceri, Italy – Parco Urbano
6.25 Rubigen, Switzerland – Muhle Hunziken
6.27 Vienne, France – Jazz a Vienne
6.28 Erlangen, Germany – E-Werk Kino
6.30 Mannheim, Germany – 7er-Club
7.01 Aschaffenburg, Germany – Colos-Saal
7.02 Hamburg, Germany – Fabrik
7.04 Helsinki – Puisto Blues
7.07 Warszawa, Poland – Klub Hydrozagadka
7.08 Gdynia, PL – Podeorko Art
9.18-19 Telluride, CO – Telluride Blues & Brews Fest
10.31 West Hollywood, CA – Whisky A Go Go***
**w/Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
***w/Jesse Dayton
