Samantha Fish – Paper Doll Live
Rounder – 2026
15 tracks; 74 minutes
Samantha Fish is a hugely popular figure in contemporary blues-rock, so it is slightly surprising that this is her first official live album. Her 2025 album Paper Doll supplies eight of the songs here, in fact just one cut from the studio album is omitted. This album was recorded at The Bijou Theatre in Knoxville, Tennessee. Samantha handles lead vocals and all guitar parts, backed by Mickey Finn on keys, Ron Johnson on bass and Jamie Douglas on drums; The McCrary Sisters provide backing vocals on five tracks. No writing credits are given on the sleeve, but one assumes that Samantha wrote all the material, apart from two familiar covers.
The band sets out its stall by opening with a thunderous cover of MC5’s “Kick Out The Jams” and the action rarely lets up through the 74 minutes of music. A run of five tracks from Paper Doll starts with the title track and its insistent core riff; “Can Ya Handle The Heat?” rocks hard before Samantha introduces The McCrary Sisters who stay on board for the next three. Samantha’s slide cuts through “I’m Done Runnin’”, “Lose You” is a little quieter but the chorus and slide still hit hard while “Sweet Southern Sounds” has a real swagger to it with pounding drums, rolling guitar riff and strong harmonies on the chorus. Perhaps because of the venue this one gets a massive cheer from the audience!
“Bulletproof” comes from 2019’s Kill Or Be Kind and it’s a full-on rocker with Sam displaying powerful lungs as well as some tough guitar work. A song about the rigors of touring comes next, “Miles To Go”, a song from 2013’s Black Wind Howlin’, and, if anything, this one further ups the rock stakes as drummer Jamie works up a real sweat and Samantha’s fingers slide up and down the frets; the shortest cut here but it really packs a punch! “Fortune Teller” returns to Paper Doll, a quiet and ominous start finds Samantha semi-speaking the words before the song ramps up to become one of the heaviest tracks here. The McCrary Sisters return for a song from 2021’s Faster album, “Better Be Lonely”, while “Dream Girl” (from Kill Or Be Kind) starts in ballad form before an extended guitar solo closes out the tune. “Don’t Say It” is again from Paper Doll, Samantha starting the song in quiet mode and the McCrary’s adding their harmonies to good effect.
R.L. Burnside’s “Poor Black Mattie” appeared on 2017’s Belle Of The West and is given an extended and robust treatment here, the keys featuring strongly. The last Paper Doll cut is “Rusty Razor” which opens with slashing guitar and piano, another very heavy track. Closer is “Black Wind Howlin’” which runs over eight minutes, including a brief introduction to the band, the heavy core riff underpinning what sounds like a slightly distorted vocal from Samantha.
With a lot of rocky material this will not be an album for the more traditional blues fans but will no doubt delight Samantha’s many devotees who have been waiting eagerly for a live album to enjoy.
