Samantha Crain Crosses the Pond

Choctaw singer-songwriter Samantha Crain's latest album of artful and thoughtful Americana tunes, "Kid Face," has been taking hold of ears and hearts across North America since its release last year. As of this month, the album is now available in the UK and lucky Brits are taking notice.

Samantha recently spoke with A Music Blog, Yea? about travel, writing and baking pies:

AMBY: Your new single Somewhere All The Time (taken from the forthcoming LP) sounds lovely. What’s the story behind the track?

Samantha Crain: I love to travel. I was born with the appetite deep in my bones. I am routinely asked if traveling so much and being away from home so often is hard. For some touring musicians, perhaps it is hard, perhaps this lifestyle isn’t something they desire, perhaps they just accept it as part of their lot in order to keep making music. For me, however, it isn’t hard. It is my obsession and my method. I am on the go for the better part of my year even when I’m not playing shows and despite the clunky, high mileage vehicles breaking down every once in awhile. Once in a blue moon though, I do need the rest and familiarity of Oklahoma.

AMBY: Which lyric off of Kid Face is your favourite?

Samantha Crain: I’m not mad, I’m conflicted

You’re not bad, you were lifted

From yourself with your lamb-like heart

And I’m your clone, that’s what makes it hard

—from “We’ve Been Found”

AMBY: What’s the funniest thing to happen to you while at a gig?

Samantha Crain: Once my band at the time played a joke on me where they got a whole bunch of other musicians (string players, horn players, percussionists, etc) like 10 people, to learn the end of this song called “Lions” and without me knowing they just had them all come out at the end for this really triumphant finale from backstage. It was really beautiful and hilarious too. I wish there was video of it.

AMBY: Music stimulates a variety of senses; which senses stand out as triggers to inspire your music?

Samantha Crain: I guess sight plays the biggest part, I’m usually writing about visual observations. But aural senses are huge too, silence is one of the best things for me and can be so inspiring. I need silence to think and create.

AMBY: What’s the best release of the year?

Samantha Crain: “In the Throes” by John Moreland

AMBY: And lastly, what’s something about Samantha Crain that nobody knows yet?

Samantha Crain: I feel like people know enough about me, more than I’d like, so there won’t be any shocking super personal detail here. But I will tell you that I’m awesome at baking pies and I collect thimbles.

Read more: Gimme Your Answers: An Interview w/ Samantha Crain

Samantha Crain: Music, Poetry and Stolen Gear

Choctaw singer-songwriter Samantha Crain chatted recently with Indian Country Today about her path as a musician, life on the road and her upcoming new album Kid Face. This week, Samantha's getting more press but for the sad news that her guitars have been stolen!

On November 16th, Samantha posted a plea on Craigslist that her two workhorse guitars, the ones she uses for touring, writing and recording, were stolen from her home in Shawnee, Oklahoma. For a musician, losing the tools of one's trade is heartbreaking much less a huge expense and threat to their livliehood.

"These are my life and blood" Samantha wrote in her post and her community was quick to respond with ways to support her. A donation campaign is now online to help raise funds to replace Samantha's Martin acoustic and Jagstang electric - check it out at donatesamanthacrain.blogspot.ca.

In happier news, Samantha Crain recently spoke with Vincent Schilling (host of Native Trailblazers) for Indian Country Today. In Singer-Songwriter Samantha Crain Talks Music, Poetry and Neil Young Samantha shared her now established career got started a bit by happenstance:

I started playing music as a means to travel, actually. I started this as an afterthought that I grew to love tremendously and found an identity. I started touring and writing when I was about 18 or 19. I didn’t take any time to hone it, I wasn’t one of those people who started playing really young and then it eventually turned into this. I naïvely jumped into it all at once.

I wrote six or seven songs and then I said I can go play these in a coffee shop wherever I want to go. that’s kind of how I started, I just started booking shows for myself all over the place or wherever I thought I might want to go spend some time and then I realized, “Well I should probably make a record so I have something to sell to the people while I’m playing there.” I said, “Well I guess you should probably write some more songs…” I learned about it as I was in the business.

I grew to love and appreciate the art of songwriting—that has become my main focus of it now. I still do a ton of touring, but songwriting is something that is super special to me and I love meeting other songwriters and hearing about the other ways they write songs.

When I was in college, I was a creative writing major. I studied poets and how there were all of these different movements and poetry. I feel like there is that same sort of thing and songwriting, it’s just not so cut and dry and talked about as much. I find the same thing in studying different songwriters in different areas of songwriting. I think there can be the same thing said about the movements there were for poetry and art.

Samantha goes on to reveal the poets she's been most influenced by, how her new album Kid Face represents a shift in her songwriting style, and why she just wants to be Neil Young. Read the complete interview here and be sure to check out the fundraiser to replace her instruments too.

Samantha Crain Living Life on the Road

RPM's Marika Swan caught up with Choctaw singer-songwriter Samantha Crain mid-tour to talk about the art of packing, what it takes to keep healthy on the road and what's changed for her in the six years since she started this job.

I interviewed Samantha Crain a few weeks ago as she was just setting off on her spring tour - by now she's all finished up and back home. Her Choctaw father introduced her to the guitar and at the age of 25, she has been touring for the last 6 years. So since she was 19 years old she has toured for at least 6 months of the year and sprinkled the other half with one-offs, festivals and mini-tours. I managed to catch this busy veteran after she finished doing a spot on a local radio show:

Marika Swan: How did your interview on the radio go?

Samantha Crain: It’s one of those things about interviews because everyone wants me to tell them how exciting my life is. But it’s just as normal as anybody else who has a 9-5 job. Well not just like it because it is very different but it's not overly exciting. I am doing what I like to do which is traveling but also I’ve gotten used to it. It’s the routine that I get into.  Driving to the city that I am going to play at, do whatever radio stuff or interviews that we do. And then we play the show and then we talk to people after the show. Then you go to sleep then you wake up and you do it again. It's not like a road trip. It can be if you want it to be. Which sometimes we want it to be. But sometimes it's exhausting to do that. This time around, we are all mellowed out a little and just want it to be a business trip. As you get older in life you need some routine in your life or you kinda go nuts. And that’s where I am at right now. We are going to cities we are really familiar with. We know where we like to go and people that we’re going to see. Its really enjoyable and satisfying because you are working for a paycheck and you want to be working for it.

MS: Probably the way you feel about it all now is very different than when you were 19.

SC: Oh yeah definitely. I mean also when we go to new places I get a lot of the excitement that I felt when I was first starting. When I go to Europe now and do shows I am very excited to see the cities. Anywhere in the States though is pretty much familiar. There are lots of cities that I have played over and over and over. I really love that too though, it's really nice to feel like they are your home away from home since I am not home a lot. I also have different resources available to me now. I wont happily sleep on the floor every night like I used to. Being six years older, you need a mattress under you once and a while. Just to be healthy you need some sort of routine. Get a good sleep, have something good to eat and maybe go jogging every once and a while. It’s just the things that become important to you as you get older. It’s probably that way for anybody who has a job. For me I just need to fit it into a day that’s otherwise pretty strict.

I just try to think of it like instead of me trying to get out of being a part of society this is how I fit into society. I think that everyone is there own cog in this machine that we live in and this is what I do. It's my job and it's because I love traveling and that’s very much a part of me. I love to play music. This is me contributing to society. We all work in our own ways so everything can move together so I don’t like to think of it as me trying to get out of being a normal person.

MS: You must be an expert packer.

SC: I’m actually not good at it. Its one of those things where I wish I had that skill and I feel like I’m getting better at it. When I first started touring the situations that I was traveling in were like we were in a really small vehicle and we could all bring one backpack full of stuff for two months. But I was also 19 years old so two weeks without showering, I didn’t care. Then we started traveling with a trailer so we had more room so I would literally bring everything that I wanted. Two giant suitcases full of stuff and like a bicycle. Just all sorts of books and tapes. And now I am doing more Europe stuff and I have to cut back on what kind of stuff that I can take. I pretty much take a small suitcase for however long I am going to be over there. Now I am trying to relearn the art of packing. You’d think I’d be good at it but I never bring what I need. And I bring everything that I don’t need.

MS: When you get full of doing what you do now, do you have other things that you dream for yourself?

SC: I don’t want to think about it. It would just be worrisome to think about all the things that you’d rather be doing other than what you are doing. It doesn’t seem very healthy. I think that you should focus on what you are doing and then when your path isn’t working out and you need to change the path of your life then you can think about that. Anytime that I feel unhappy it's probably because I am thinking too much on the "grass is always greener" mindset. So it makes it more sense to me to think about what I am doing now and try to focus on that as much as possible.

MS: So you try to live as much as possible in the present?

SC: I try to because I don’t think its something that comes to me very naturally. I think naturally I am a very futuristic thinker and so it’s better for me to kind of live where I am at for my own mental health.

-

Here's a lil' video of Samantha Crain's Churchill with Penny Hill, Brian and Laney of O Fidelis and Daniel Foulks, by VDub Sessions who documents Oklahoma musicians on the move.

New Indigenous Music Releases - Jan/Feb 2012

So far in 2012 the new releases in Indian Country span the genres of folk, americana, flamenco, traditional and pop/rock... something for everyone! Here are the new Indigenous music releases of January and February, 2012.

Right out of the gate, Samantha Crain released her new 7" single A Simple Jungle on January 10. Produced by John Vanderslice the two new tracks on the single are exactly what you love about Samantha already - her from-another-time vocals and indie-spun american vibe. Get A Simple Jungle here: samanthacrain.com/store.

On January 20, Gabriel Ayala of the Yaqui tribe released his ninth album, Shades of Blue. Ayala's virtuosic guitar playing is at its flamenco-flavoured best on this album and you can find it on CDBaby here: cdbaby.com/cd/gabrielayala3.

On the same day, newcomer Nick Sherman, from Sioux Lookout, Ontario, released his debut album Drag Your Words Through. Rooted in folk/rock, the songs are earnest yet thoughtful and Sherman's rich, textured vocals will rip your heart out. In a good way. Listen to his track Winterdark here and get the whole album on iTunes at itunes.apple.com.

Comprised of composer and multi-instrumentalist Colin Farish and Native American flutist John-Carlos Perea, Coyote Jump "sculpts a musical tribute to Native America with the sound of the cedar flute at its core." We've known for awhile that this debut album, Waking From the Rocks, was on the horizon and are glad to announce it's now available from Canyon Records. Find it at store.canyonrecords.com.

Last but not least, this month Vince Fontaine's supergroup Indian City released their first album, Supernation - contemporary pop and rock with a hint of traditional layers. Envisioned by Fontaine, the collaborative Indian City includes Don Amero, Pamela Davis, William Prince,  Ray "Coco" Stevenson and others. Killer! Get Supernation on CDBaby here: cdbaby.com/cd/vincefontainesindiancity.

Listen to the first single from Indian City, Stand:

Samantha Crain: On the Road & A Simple Jungle

Choctaw singer-songwriter Samantha Crain is on the road again - a long road that will see her performing over 20 gigs in the next six weeks and take her across the Atlantic ocean. She'll have her band in tow and her brand new 7" single in hand. 

The new single,  A Simple Jungle, gets its name from the two new songs it features, It's Simple (I'm thrilled to see this recorded after seeing Samantha perform it live last summer at the Winnipeg Folk Festival and loving it instantly) and Cadwell Jungle, both produced by famed singer-songwriter and producer John Vanderslice. Crain's indie-friendly spin on Americana continues to shine on A Simple Jungle, which also includes a live recording of the Dam Song. Amazon.com has already picked it as one of their best of 2012 and you can get your copy here.

As I write this, Samantha Crain has already started her latest tour, but the bulk of the dates are still coming up! She's on a long stretch through the States, and will also be performing in Ireland, England and France. If you find yourself in any of these towns on these dates, I highly recommend getting your ears and heart to her show!

For details on any of the below, visit samanthacrain.com.

And Samantha, come back to Canada already!

02.02.12 Cafe Nine, New Haven, CT 02.030.12 The Lilypad, Cambridge, MA 02.04.12 Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA 02.05.12 Cafe NOLA, Frederick, MD 02.07.12 Local 506, Chapel Hill, NC 02.08.12 The Evening Muse, Charlotte, NC 02.09.12 Boone Saloon, Boone, NC 02.10.12 Smith's Older Bar, Atlanta, GA 02.12.12 The Poor House Music Hall, Raleigh, NC 02.15.12 Music City Roots, Nashville, TN 02.17.12 Whitewater Tavern, Little Rock, AR 02.18.12 Fassler Hall, Tulsa, OK 02.22.12 Point Ephemere, Paris, FR 02.23.12 King's College, London, UK 02.24.12 Manchester Academy, Manchester, UK 02.25.12 Workman's Club, Dublin, IE 02.27.12 King Tuts Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, UK 02.28.12 The Wardrobe, Leeds, UK 02.29.12 The Thekla, Bristol, UK 03.03.12 The Deli, Norman, OK 03.09.12 Frank, Austin, TX 03.16.12 Dan's Silverleaf, Denton, TX