Samantha Fish has a live album coming, a new tour announced, and absolutely nothing left to prove. The Kansas City-bred guitarist and songwriter has released details for ‘Paper Doll Live,’ her first official live album, due June 12 via Rounder Records, alongside a newly announced fall tour with UK power trio Zac Schulze Gang.
‘Paper Doll Live’ was recorded at Knoxville’s historic Bijou Theatre, capturing Fish and her band in front of a packed house with soaring harmonies from Nashville gospel legends The McCrary Sisters woven throughout. Guitar Player called it “arguably Fish’s most authentic concert souvenir.” Creative Loafing Atlanta went further, calling her current live show “one of the most explosive blues shows this year.” Both assessments land.
Fish puts it plainly: “There’s a fire that comes across in live performance that doesn’t always translate in studio albums. The stage lays all of that bare.” ‘Paper Doll Live’ exists because that fire needed to be documented. It does exactly that.
The album follows ‘Paper Doll,’ the studio record it grew out of. Fish framed the relationship between the two directly: “If Paper Doll was a declaration of artistic power, Paper Doll Live is the sound of that power unleashed.” That’s not a boast. That’s a traceable arc across her catalog.
Fish’s live reputation has been built show by show, decade by decade. From cold-calling bars as a teenager in Kansas City to headlining the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival for the eighth time this year, she’s developed one of the most physically commanding, emotionally raw live shows in contemporary roots music. Critics have called it “wild, raunchy… an absolute must-see” and praised her “savage guitar work and commanding stage presence.” Those descriptions hold up.
A 2-time GRAMMY nominee and Kansas City Hall of Fame inductee, Fish has shared stages with Slash and The Rolling Stones and appeared at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival. Her catalog includes ‘Runaway,’ ‘Wild Heart,’ ‘Chills & Fever,’ ‘Kill or Be Kind,’ ‘Faster,’ the chart-topping collaboration ‘Death Wish Blues’ with Jesse Dayton, and ‘Paper Doll.’ Every record has pushed her further into her own territory.
The fall tour features UK power trio Zac Schulze Gang as support, and they’re an ideal match for this run. Guitarist and vocalist Zac Schulze, drummer Ben Schulze, and bassist Ant Greenwell draw from Rory Gallagher and Dr. Feelgood to build a raw, high-voltage blues-rock sound that Classic Rock described as “armed with upbeat, 70s-ified blues rock with a few enticing twists and a roughened Rory Gallagher-esque edge.”
The Zac Schulze Gang sold out London’s The Garage, play more than 250 shows a year across the UK and Europe, and have appeared alongside Fish, Eddie 9V, and at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival. Their debut album ‘Straight To It’ broke them through.