Samantha Fish Talks Her Role in the Blues

Samantha Fish climbs the steps of her 19th-century New Orleans home, shouldering her Arctic White Gibson SG as she retreats from the midday summer sun into a wide parlor. The air is thick with bayou humidity, but as a Kansas City native who spent her first 20-something years weathering winter blizzards, Fish doesn’t seem to mind.As she finds a spot on her couch, the muted thud of drums sounds through the walls of a recording studio, situated next door in a former church. In New Orleans, music is everywhere.“You could walk down any street and come up with an idea,” the acclaimed blues guitarist says. “There’s so much music around, and the people are inspiring.”Fish grew up hearing bluegrass, Americana and hard rock, eventually finding her way to the blues through classic rock and roll. She taught herself the basics on guitar, then picked up licks from records and the jazz and blues guitar players she found in her hometown. She broke out of the Midwest blues scene with a power trio that...