Wish Fulfillment: Samantha Fish collab with Jesse Dayton spawns Grammy nomination

Jesse Dayton and Samantha Fish. // Courtesy photo

Released in May of 2023, Death Wish Blues, the collaborative album between blues rockers Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton, sees the pair taking the sparks from their 2022 EP, The Stardust Sessions, and fanning them into a full-blown blaze. In support of the Rounder Records release produced by Jon Spencer, Kansas City’s Fish and the Texas-born Dayton take the show on the road this spring with the Supadupabad Tour, which hits the Truman on Thursday, February 22. We spoke with both artists separately by phone about the album and the upcoming tour ahead of their KC date.

The Pitch: It seems like you and Samantha Fish have found like-minded cohorts in each other.

Jesse Dayton: Very much so. We think very similarly about not getting caught up in—you know, we just do stuff that we like that feels right or challenging. Samantha is pretty fearless, and so am I.

Samantha Fish: Jon is an incredible person and artist, and just getting to watch him work in a different capacity—just the way he produces, the way he records, how he mics things, the choices that he was making, and how he was helping us get what we needed out of our performances—he’s really a creative person, and it was just a joy to work with him.

Is that what led you to want to make Death Wish Blues with him?

Dayton: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, both of us have been fans for a long time. Sam, especially, is into that whole North Mississippi blues thing, and I come from a more Texas blues kind of influence, but I loved the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. I saw him in the early days when RL Burnside was opening for him, so we knew he would do something different in this. We wouldn’t go in there and do the same old thing where it’s like the Stevie Ray Vaughan Strat guitar or the John Bonham drums—the typical stuff. I love all that, but the world needs that record like we need a hole in our head, you know?

Fish: It’s been quite a ride, and just the whole process has been really artistically fulfilling. It’s been kind of a departure from my solo stuff, but it’s still in line with all the music that I love. I hate to use the word “fun” because it feels like a trivial thing, but it’s been really fucking fun.

Was it that sense of fun that made you want to get together and write after recording The Stardust Sessions?

Fish: Jesse and I reconnected in January of 2022. He was playing a show in New Orleans that I went out and saw. This idea for a duet record had been floating around my camp for a while, just something like a side project with another person. In my mind’s eye, it was even more extreme, almost like a sweaty punk rock and roll record that we just go and do, almost like a moonlighting gig, but it stayed more in line with who we were as artists.

When we started writing together, and we went to this little studio and cut an EP, I don’t think we ever really intended to do anything with those songs. It was just more or less an experiment, like, “Let’s see if we sound good together,” but the record label dug it, and so they put it out as an introduction to what was to come.

Once they got in line with it, we were like, “All right, we better start writing,” that’s when Jon Spencer came into the fold. That’s when we got really busy trying to create these songs for this record.

Dayton: It was really weird because we went into a studio with just a pick-up rhythm section. It was a funky little studio in New Orleans in this guy’s backyard. We  recorded some covers, and I took the tapes back to Austin and mixed them. The next thing I knew, our manager said that Rounder wanted to put those songs out. That kind of encouraged us, but both of our fan bases were scratching their heads when we first started working together. We did a Magic Sam song, a Clash song, and a Townes Van Zandt song. That set the barometer being all over the map.

What was the process of putting together Death Wish Blues?

Dayton: I flew over from Austin, where I live, to New Orleans. The whole first day, we didn’t write anything. We just talked about music, and then once we started writing, it just started pouring out. It’s a mutual admiration society. We both love what each other does, and we both feel grateful to have the opportunity to take the chance.

Most people let fear scare them into staying in this nice little warm place where they make music, and they’re worried about their fans turning on them. A million things could have gone wrong in Woodstock with Jon. I mean, neither one of us had ever met him until we walked into the studio. We made this old school. We did it in 10 days, live to tape.

What is the difference between the process of writing songs together in the studio and performing them live?

Fish: Once you get the element of the audience—people watching you do it—there’s most certainly a difference between studio and live performance. In the studio, everything was so fresh, and there were a lot of us asking each other, “Is this okay? Is that okay?” Live, once we realize our places and our parts, where we fit in, and ask, “How can I complement this other person?”—It just becomes second nature because both Jesse and I are live acts.

We make a lot of records, but we’re not in the studio all the time. We’re out on the road, so I think the stage is where we both feel really comfortable. The thing that’s similar is there’s this base of respect and just trying to figure out the way to support the song and support each other and take on these different roles. Normally, when it’s a solo show, I’m the lead guitar player and the lead singer, and with Jesse, there are moments in the show where I’m the rhythm guitar player. I’m singing backup. I’m offering support. You just have to figure out what your role is for the song and execute it.

You’ve got a really big 2024 coming up.

Dayton: I mean, we got nominated for a Grammy, which we can’t freaking believe. We both are like, “Somebody’s playing a joke on us.” But it’s for real.

Fish: We were on the Big Easy Cruise in the middle of the ocean. I got a text from my manager and my lawyer, and it said, “Congrats.” I was sitting at breakfast, so I didn’t know right away what that meant, but then, we went and looked on Facebook, and there it was.

Dayton: Our manager called and said, “Hey, so you’re gonna be on this other cruise called the Outlaw Country Cruise, but we’re gonna fly you from the Grammys to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and then you’re gonna take the helicopter out to the boat.” I was like, “Okay, this shit’s for real, man.”

Fish: It’s a pretty cool scene. It’s a spectacle. It’s different going to it. I mean, I’ve watched on television over the years, but to go and see the production and how they’re putting these sets together in real-time for live television—the nerd in me is like, “Wow, this is really cool.”

Catch The Supadupabad Tour with Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton at The Truman on Thursday, February 22. Tickets available here.