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<\/a>I\u2019ve had several people whose opinions on music I respect, tell me that I had to catch blues lady, Samantha Fish. I got my opportunity Friday night at the iconic Heights Theater. A Kansas City native, Fish struck me as a hard working guitarist having written and released two studio albums in 2017 and performing a lot since then.<\/p>\nOpening for the Texas leg of the tour was Houston\u2019s own, John Egan. John Egan keeps alive an acoustic blues tradition honoring Lightning Hopkins and Willie Dixon on vintage resonator guitars, while writing his own original tunes and mixing it up electric every now and again. On his short set, Egan performed his \u201cMississippi Ran Backward\u201d and Dixon\u2019s \u201cSpoonful\u201d, as well as some freshly written tunes before closing out with the classic \u201cSee that my Grave is Kept Clean\u201d. The amazing sound at the Heights really accentuated John\u2019s fine performing skills so you could hear every slip of the slide. If you live in Houston and you haven\u2019t seen John Egan, it\u2019s your own darned fault, because he is performing all over town, almost every week.<\/p>\n
Samantha Fish\u2019s band played an intro, complete with flute trills as Fish followed them on to the stage to begin her show with \u201cAmerican Dream\u201d followed directly by the title track of \u201cChills and Fever\u201d. It doesn\u2019t take long to see that Samantha has two distinct personas, the pouty young blues singer and a more countrified Americana blues artist. Both personas can really play guitar. She has put together a really tight band with a fantastic keyboards guy, a cool horn section and a driving rhythm section.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>A good portion of the show was spent covering songs from the last two discs, \u201cBelle of the West\u201d and afore mentioned, \u201cChills and Fever\u201d. \u201cEither Way I Lose\u201d, \u201cBlood in the Water\u201d and \u201cNeed You More\u201d were just a sample of those tunes. Samantha displayed her guitar virtuosity on an extended version of \u201cSomebody\u2019s Always Trying\u201d, starting out blues rocking, drifting off in a psychedelic mix of pedals and electronic treatments before syncing it back up for a resounding close to the song. Fish chose to close out the set with a great cover of the Rolling Stones\u2019 \u201cHeartbreakers (with your 44)\u201d complete with the \u201cDoo, Doo, Doot, Da Doo\u201d chorus.<\/p>\n