Kansas City's Samantha Fish brings different shades of blues to Columbia concert

Be prepared.

The stalwart scouting motto applies across disciplines — even to rock 'n' roll. But preparation takes different shapes in different seasons. Often, Kansas City blues dynamo Samantha Fish prepares the next record while touring the last one, writing on the road, in hotel rooms. When the pandemic slammed the breaks on the live-music industry, Fish found herself with nothing but time and a guitar on her hands.

Readying "Faster" — which released earlier this year — Fish, her all-star band and producer Martin Kierszenbaum (whose credits include work with Lady Gaga, Sheryl Crow and Sting) finished most of the heavy lifting at the front end of the process.

Investing an abundance of time on song arrangements and pre-production initially worried Fish, activating a "superstition" that all the preparation might crowd out the necessary looseness in the music.

“Honestly, it was the opposite effect," Fish said. "Because we knew exactly what we wanted, it killed all my nerves. ... It just opened the door for creativity.”

Columbia audiences will reap the dividends of all that preparation, enjoying songs from "Faster" and Fish's wider catalog, when her tour arrives at The Blue Note Wednesday, Dec. 15.

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Fish belongs to Kansas City, and its rich blues tradition. Her family plays within the genre — Fish's sister, Amanda, played this fall's Roots N Blues festival — and she was adopted long ago by the greater household of blues. Fish has worked with the likes of Luther Dickinson, Mike Zito, Devon Allman, Cassie Taylor and Dani Wilde, shimmering wherever she goes.

"Faster" presents many different shades of the blues, tuning listeners' ears to hear how that formative sound exists in nearly everything. The opening title track builds from a crunchy rock riff, finding its soul in the ascendant "ooh" Fish sings.

"Twisted Ambition" is one of several songs on which Fish accepted a challenge to channel atypical styles through her guitar; the song filters a "Delta finger-style" riff through an "industrial dance approach," she said.

Elsewhere, "Hypnotic" nods to Prince with its slinky, synth-driven style, a vibe which perfectly sets up Fish's floating-on-air vocals. "Forever Together" begins with bouncy 1980s guitars before opening up into pop appeal.

Uniting her own instincts, outside expectations and desire to drive in different directions represents quite the balancing act, Fish admitted. But early on, she established and met her own standard.

"As long as the songs all tie together and tell a story, when I look back objectively, I feel like it still fits well with the rest of my catalog," she said.

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Fish worked out these ideas from within a serious power trio. On "Faster," she collaborates with drummer Josh Freese (Guns 'N Roses, Nine Inch Nails, Weezer) and bassist Diego Navaira of The Last Bandoleros. The pair's proficiency and professionalism immediately put Fish at ease, amplifying her confidence in the record's bold advances, she said.

The artist eagerly welcomed another new collaborator into the studio — in a connection as quintessentially Kansas City as Patrick Mahomes-to-Travis Kelce, hip-hop icon Tech N9ne boosts the signal on "Loud."

Fish grew up seeing Tech N9ne's visage on billboards around Kansas City, and she has received several excited calls from friends back home about the track, she said.

Blues and hip-hop artists often travel in different circles, but the song reminds listeners yet again of their proximity on popular music's family tree.

"The crash collision of genres — it’s all connected. The blues is in everything ... it’s the foundational music for a lot of what we have going on today," Fish affirmed.

Fish's show begins at 8 p.m. Wednesday; King Solomon Hicks shares the bill. Tickets are $25 to $30. Visit https://thebluenote.com/ for more details.

Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at adanielsen@columbiatribune.com or by calling 573-815-1731.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Kansas City's Samantha Fish brings different shades of blues to Columbia concert