“A lot of people look at the music of their youth as being more meaningful than something they heard just recently, and I don’t understand that at all,” says blues-rock electric guitar phenom Samantha Fish. “There’s a place for nostalgia, but I like to keep progressing. Music constantly moves and inspires me, and I’ve made so many discoveries during the past few years. There’s no reason why my musical journey had to stop when I was 14. At that age, you’re just getting started. And let’s be honest — there’s some music you might not appreciate till you’re older.”
Such is the case with Fish’s newfound love of Otis Redding. “There’s no way I would have understood him when I was a kid,” she says. “I couldn’t have felt the emotions he was putting across, how his performances came from such a place of hurt. I had to live a little myself. I had to feel my own pain. At the same time, there’s music I loved has a teenager, but now it affects me in a different way.” She laughs. “This list is like a snapshot of me right now. In five years, the choices could be all different.”
The Rolling Stones: Exile on Main St. (1972)
“Who doesn’t have a Rolling Stones record in their top 10, right? The Stones are one of my favorite bands of all time, and I love so much of their work, particularly Sticky Fingers. I could easily pick that record, but I feel like I’ve talked about it a hundred fucking times, so instead I’m going with Exile on Main St. here, which is often cited by a lot of people as one of the greatest records of all time. I can’t argue with that, really. This is such a special album with so many amazing songs. I grew up loving it, and it holds up in every way. In fact, as the years go by, it seems to mean more and more to me.
“It’s a double album that deserves to be a double album. There’s a lot of different styles and moods — you can kind of get lost in it. ‘Rocks Off’ is one kick-ass rocker, and then there’s ‘Stop Breaking Down,’ which is more blues rock. What can I say about ‘Rip This Joint’? It’s just massive. The whole album takes you on a journey of American music. My favorite song on the record is ‘Let It Loose.’ It’s kind of regarded as a B-side, and the band has never performed it live. For some reason, it just gets to me — maybe it’s the choir in the end. It’s a beautiful track.”
R.L. Burnside: A Ass Pocket of Whiskey (1996)
“Growing up, I was really into rock ‘n’ roll, and I was still way into rock when I started playing guitar. I gradually started to get interested in the blues, but I wanted to figure out which style of blues spoke to me. As you can imagine, if you’re a young guitar player in Kansas City, blues is all around you — it’s a tradition in the city. I did a deep dive into the blues, and eventually I wound up checking out the Fat Possum roster.
“Fat Possum records were this really cool mix of raw rock ‘n’ roll and a loose style of blues — some of them were kind of drum oriented. I became a fan of the whole roster, but I really took to R.L. Burnside’s A Ass Pocket of Whiskey. This was a collaboration between R.L. and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and it’s just amazing. To me, it defined a sound that a lot of rock bands emulated, especially in the early aughts. It’s one of my favorites, and I have no problem calling it a modern classic. If you haven’t checked it out, you’re missing something great.”
Aretha Franklin: Live at the Fillmore West (1971)
“I’ve always loved live albums — they’re sort of portraits of artists at important times in their careers. This record is really special, and as you can imagine, the performances are incredible. There’s a wonderful mix of material here, but Aretha’s rendition of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ — I mean, stand back. It just doesn’t get any better. She’s a powerhouse singer and an inspiration to anybody who loves soul music.
“I grew up hearing Aretha’s hits on the radio, but I didn’t discover this album till later on. I think I first heard it when I started touring, during one of those endless long drives I would do in a van. You’ve got eight hours and nothing but road ahead of you — all you can do is listen to music. This is an album that sort of snuck up on me, and I’m so glad it did. It’s so moving and exciting. There’s not a wasted moment on it; everything Aretha does just leaves your jaw on the floor. We never had a singer like her, and we never will again.”
B.B. King : Indianola Mississippi Seeds (1970)
“When I was a teenager and played around Kansas City, B.B.’s daughter, Shirley King, came to town. She was playing with a friend of mine, D.C. Bellamy, and I got to meet her. That was such a great time for me because I was so young — I was only 18. Shirley invited me to Chicago, where her dad was playing the Chicago Blues Festival. It was so cool, the way she was like, ‘Come on up to Chicago and hang out.’
“I remember getting in the car with my mom and driving to Chicago. It was my first road trip, and what made it really cool was my mother turning me on to Indianola Mississippi Seeds. She was like, ‘You need to check this album out.’ And wow, was she right. It’s one of those records that sticks with you; you remember everything about the moment you first heard it.
“Some of my favorite songs are on this record. I started covering a few of them when I had my first blues band; I wasn’t quite writing songs yet, so I was looking for cool things I could play that would fit into my repertoire. B.B.’s version of Leon Russell’s ‘Hummingbird’ is gorgeous. It became a hit and a real favorite with fans. You didn’t hear him do it live much later on, which would have been nice. I love that song so much.”
Guns N’ Roses: Appetite for Destruction (1987)
“I met Slash this past year and did a tour with him. I told him, ‘I almost had to fill out an SR-22 because of you.’ An SR-22 is an extra piece of paperwork that’s required for bad drivers when you take out car insurance. I can blame it all on the many, many speeding tickets I got driving around listening to Appetite for Destruction. Talk about a record having an impact on your life.
“Front to back, it’s an amazing album — a classic. It’s fiery and fun, and every song is awesome. It made me want to drive 95 miles per hour, and then I went out and did it. And everybody lived through it, so that’s a good thing.”
Betty Harris: Soul Perfection (1969)
“They’re remastering Betty Harris’ records right now, so they’re hard to find. Soul Perfection is a compilation of her hits up till 1969, although it omits ‘There’s a Break in the Road,’ which is arguably one of her most popular numbers. Even so, it’s a great roundup of some of her best songs, and anybody who wants to check her out would find this is a fantastic place to start.
“I’m such a Betty Harris fan. I found out about her when I was making my Chills & Fever record, and I wound up devouring her catalog. She’s got an amazing voice, and she packs so much emotion into her singing. She made most of her recordings with Allen Tousssaint producing, and you can hear his fingerprints all over the arrangements. I’m such a big fan of his, too. This is a beautiful record.”
Neil Young: After the Gold Rush (1970)
“All of Neil Young’s records are moody and dark, but this one’s extra moody and dark. I’ve loved his music since I was a kid — for some reason, he’s always spoken to me. He resonates with me.
“’Don’t Let it Bring You Down’ is one of my favorite songs, and we’ve been covering it for a couple of years. It’s so heavy, yet it’s poignant. ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart’ is perfectly sad Neil Young at his very best. Nobody can sound wounded and angry at the same time like him. His voice can just crush you to pieces. As an artist and writer, he’s way up there.”
Donny Hathaway: Live (1972)
“This is another great record I learned about in my 20s while driving in a van across the country. I was on a West Coast tour with Albert Castiglia, a fellow blues player, and he was like, ‘You need to put this record on in your van.’ The minute I heard it, I said, ‘Wow, that’s incredible!’ Now I'm a Donny Hathaway fan. That’s how it goes: You learn from other people.
“It’s a fantastic live record — actually, it’s a compilation of two live performances: One side is from the Bitter End in New York, and the other side is from the Troubadour in L.A. I’ve listened to it for years. Donny’s voice is unbelievable — sad, soulful and just beautiful in so many ways. I’ve found that a lot of musicians know about this album, and I’m glad that I found out about it, too.”
MC5: Kick Out the Jams (1969)
“This record came into my life fairly recently. I started getting hip to the Detroit rock and soul scene while I was making the Chills & Fever album. I was going through something of a musical evolution, just taking everything in, and eventually that led me to Kick Out the Jams. The title song is so powerful and ass kicking — it was our walk-on music for a while. I was like, ‘Man, we need to play this in our show.’
“I’ve become such an MC5 fan. They were punk in the very early days, and that’s where my heart is. The band was never mainstream; they weren’t something my parents listened to. Once you get into them, though, you’re really into them. This record really affected me at a time when I wanted to feel something in a big way. That’s what’s so cool about music: It’s never too late to find something great.”
Otis Redding: Complete & Unbelievable (1966)
“As a singer, I try to listen to the greatest vocalists around and try to learn how I can get better. I’ll never get close to the unique talent of Otis Redding, but I still listen to him and take in what I can. It’s amazing what he did in such a short time. He was pretty prolific, so he left us with a lot of music.
“I chose this album because it’s got incredible songs, like ‘Tennessee Waltz’ — I learned that one myself because of Otis’s version. He evokes so many emotions through his singing. He sings of love lost, but he celebrates new love, too. He encapsulates the entire spectrum of feelings — it’s in his delivery, his range and his tone. It’s like he lived an entire life and had such wisdom. It’s hard to believe he was only in his 20s when he recorded these songs.”
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