This Kansas City musician is making her mark on New Orleans’ blues scene — literally
It’s hard to be humble when you’re standing in front of a large mural with your face on it.
But blues artist Samantha Fish was clinging to her Midwestern modesty Thursday afternoon on Frenchmen Street, the three-block heart of New Orleans’ live music scene. A couple of years ago, a local artist named Ian Wilkinson put up a portrait of Fish on the wall outside Favela Chic, a restaurant and venue there.
“I’m not sure why he chose to put me on there,” Fish said as a beer delivery man rolled kegs off the back of a nearby truck. “I’ve never been on a mural before, and I don’t know how long it’ll stay up here. But it’s very sweet. Sometimes my fans will come visit and take pictures in front of it.”
She wasn’t going to say it out loud, but Fish is on the wall because she is a legitimately huge figure in the blues world. The singer, songwriter and guitarist grew up in Wyandotte County, went to high school at Shawnee Mission North, and started playing music in Kansas City-area clubs like Knuckleheads when she was 17.
Her list of musical accomplishments is long. Fish was the Blues Music Awards’ Artist of the Year in both 2016 and 2020 and most recently snagged a 2024 Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album for “Death Wish Blues,” a collaboration with Jesse Dayton that spent three consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Blues Chart.
Fish moved to New Orleans about eight years ago.
“I’d been in KC my whole life, but I had a band that I was building that was from out of the area,” Fish said. “And I’d always loved New Orleans. I thought I’d try it out. I was nervous. I wasn’t sure if I’d be embraced, or if I’d be rejected because I’m not from here. But it’s been amazing.”
You’ll be hard-pressed to catch Fish performing at the smaller-capacity clubs on Frenchmen Street. She’s booked at theaters and auditoriums these days: the Fillmore, the Saenger, the Civic. She’ll do Jazz Fest for the sixth time this spring.
“Jazz Fest has been wonderful to me and the band,” she said. “We’ve gotten so many great opportunities through playing here.”
She’s quick to credit the Kansas City scene for helping her along, though.
“Obviously, in New Orleans, there’s like 100 festivals a year, people come from all over the world to see that, and it brings a level of commerce and tourism to the scene,” Fish said. “But I’m always telling people that KC is secretly this amazing music city. It just doesn’t wear it like a badge of honor the way they do here.”
She gets back to her hometown fairly regularly. She played the Truman last year, and tries to make a point to stop in at Knuckleheads and B.B.’s Lawnside BBQ, the clubs where she cut her teeth.
“I tend to go 100 miles per hour when I’m back in KC, trying to hit all the places I miss,” she said. “I really miss Royals games. We had a minor league team down here called the Baby Cakes, but they’re gone now.”
And she misses the Chiefs. Fish has been watching the games — she pays for an NFL package — and will be in town for the Super Bowl, which she plans to watch with friends. She might even enjoy a little barbecue with it.
“I’ve always got Arthur Bryant’s sauce in the fridge,” Fish said. “You can order it on Amazon.”
This story was originally published January 31, 2025 at 1:37 PM.
