Kansas City based blues musician Amanda Fish is taking advantage of her first visit to Canada.
She and her drummer will be stopping by the Slice to host a superjam on Thursday, Aug. 9.
“This is the first time I’ve ever been in Canada and o even out of my own country, so I’m doing everything I can that is Canadian. I’m drinking Labatts and eating poutine,” said Fish, upon being pleasantly surprised by a ride on an indoor roller coaster in the West Edmonton mall.
She is enjoying a rare multi-day gig , this time at Blues on Whyte in Edmonton.
“That never happens at all, so it is really cool,” she said, adding the tour has been going well.
“I’m really digging Canada. Audiences have been great. We’ve had a great reception,” she said , noting they aren’t mixing her up with her well known sister Samantha Fish, who is also an excellent blues musician.
“They definitely know about Sam,”she said, adding their styles are different.
Amanda Fish just released her brand new, sophomore CD “Free,” but she won’t have on this tour.
She is excited about the new CD, her long awaited follow up to her 2015 debut on Vizztone records.
“I’m playing guitar on this tour,” she said, adding she plays a lot of different instruments on the album including bass, guitar, mandolin, and piano. It includes a lot of special guests including drummer Glen James, Chris Hazelton, country star Sara Morgan, Alaistair Greene, plus Vizztone label mates Tyler Morris and Richard Rosenblatt and Bob Margolin, who used to play with Muddy Waters.
“It was really cool having him on the CD. Though I never met him. He recorded his parts by remote. You can do most things remote with the Internet,” she said, adding translating the new music to duo for the tour has been challenging.
“It’s wonderful and free, There are a lot of great players on the CD. I actually know the songs better on bass. So playing lead guitar is challenging. I just try to keep the groove,“ she continued, adding she has been hiring local musicians for some stops.
“I hired a bass player in Saskatoon,” she said.
She has always been interested in music.
“My dad played guitar and my mom was was a classically trained opera singer,” she said.
“ But when I heard King Biscuit Flower hour (radio show) when I was 18 or 19 I really got into the blues. i just really enjoyed that feeling,” she said.
