Toronto based blues and soul musicians Samantha Martin and Delta Sugar make a long awaited return to Lethbridge, Nov. 17 at the Southminster United Church in support of their latest Juno nominated CD “ The Reckless One.”
Martin is going all out for the Geomatic Attic and Lethbridge Jazz and Blues Festival co-presentation as she is bringing a10 piece band plus Monkeyjunk’s Steve Marriner to open the show and make a special guest appearance on stage with the orchestra.
“We didn't actually win,” she chuckled.
“We were in the top five,” she continued adding their last CD “ Run To Me” was also nominated for a Juno.
“ This is our second time being nominated for a Juno. that was for our last record “Run To Me” that was in 2018,” she said, packing for a quick two week tour that begins in Saskatoon, Nov. 13.
The Lethbridge show was delayed because of Covid, so Martin and the band are excited to be back on the road, even if she is touring while 21 weeks pregnant.
“It’s definitely been a long time coming. We were able to do a little bit of touring . And when I say a little bit, I mean we did a lot more touring than I think a lot of other people did, but it’s still not what we would consider to be normal. But this tour was supposed to take place in January and February, 2022, so earlier this year and we had to postpone it because at the time Omicron was a big thing. Some of the presenters were concerned the mandates would come back and the lockdowns would come back into effect so we decided it would be safer to postpone, ” she said.
“And so this tour has been a long time coming and we’re really excited to bring a 10 piece band to Lethbridge and on this tour.
The band includes electric guitarist Curtis Chaffey, bassist Ian MacEwan, drummer Will Fisher, Jeff Heisholt on organ, piano, background vocalists/ co-vocalists Sherie Marshall and Tafari Anthony, trombonist Emily Ferrell, trumpet player Brian Walters and saxophonist Andrew Moljgun.
Steve Marriner , who plays with Monkeyjunk as well as Colin James and who is touring in support of his new album “Hope Dies Last,” will be opening the show and plays a couple songs as a special guest.
“It’s a big band, plus I’m pregnant, so it’s really a 10 and a half piece band plus a special guest,” she laughed, adding she doesn’t know what to expect touring while pregnant.
“Well we’re about to find out. I was pregnant in the summer . In August we did about 10 days in between Grand Prairie, Alberta and Salmon Arm. We did a couple festival appearances and a few club shows though the mid- week. And I’m not gonna lie, it was pretty crazy, because I was doing all the driving and I had wicked morning sickness that seemed to last all day long. So it was a little tough, but the morning sickness has subsided and I feeling a little more energetic these days and of course I won’t be doing the driving on this tour. I’m going to kick back and pretend to be a diva for a little bit— the star of the show doesn't drive the van on this tour,” she laughed.
She has known Steve Marriner for a long time and used to be roommates with him, so she is excited to bring him along on tour.
“Steve and I have been friends for quite some time. Obviously the blues scene in Canada is spread out, but it’s pretty small and I’ve known Steve for a quite some time,” she said.
“I lived with him as roommates, him Curtis and I lived in a place for a couple of months together. We’ve been friends for a very, very long time. And he is actually on the ‘Run to Me ’ record. He played keys on that album for us and he fills in for Curtis on guitar when Curtis isn’t able to make a show. So he’s been sort of an an honourary Delta Sugar member for a long time,“ she continued.
“And of course, he’s won a gajillion awards with Monkeyjunk and Colin James and he played with Matt Anderson and he’s put out a record that’s also nominated for a Juno this year called ‘Hope Dies Last.’ And so he’s out promoting that record for himself, so we decided to bring him along and he’s going to chip in with the driving,” she said.
“ He’ll be guesting with us, so he might be playing a little guitar or a little harmonica, singing a couple verses here and there. It's a surprise. I’ll leave it at that,” she enthused.
“We’re going to be playing a lot of material off of the Reckless One, seeing as that’s the most recent album. But there’s going to be a good healthy dose of the previous record as well and even as far back as ‘Send the Nightingale,’ which was the first Delta Sugar record we put out . We do a song off that plus there’s a few fun little songs that are cover songs, other people’s songs that we will pull out here and there in the set just to keep people motivate to keep listening to our original music,” she laughed.
They adde d a funk fuelled Samantha martin and Delta Sugar twist to Bob Dylan’s “ Meet Me in the Morning ” for the CD.
“When we were in the studio recording this record, we had some time left over at the end of the second big studio session we were doing for the bed tracks. We had broken it up into two or three days sessions. And so we had some time. We had recorded everything we wanted to record, but we still had half a day booked in the studio. So rather than waste it, we just started playing cover songs and seeing what stuck and what didn’t. We tried a few that we did live and it sounded a little bit bar bandy. And it wasn’t translating the way we wanted to within the studio because because we weren’t able to feed off an audience. So I decided to switch gears and told them we were going to play a Bob Dylan song and didn’t really play it for them. Some people knew it and some people didn’t or at least heard it before . So we decided to do “ Meet Me in the Morning” and decided at least to put a Delta Sugar spin on it. So I played them the basic chords of the song the way Bob Dylan wrote it and said ‘how can we make it funky?” And the rest is history,” she said.
“ Considering it was a bonus and we hadn‘t planned on doing it and it was cool enough to put on the record. yeah, I’m really happy with it,” she said.
Martin noted she has a lot of fond Lethbridge memories.
“ There’s many favourite Lethbridge memories, but of course the Geomatic Attic and Mike (Spenser)always makes us feel so welcome and so at home. And the audiences are always so warm and welcoming. There’s too many wonderful things to mention. But I think my favourite part was watching Dani Nash who was our drummer for a little while. We were in the hotel and she came down the waterslide and it was chaotic. So I think that’s my favourite Lethbridge memory so far,” she laughed.
They have an interesting couple of months planned after this tour.
“We”ve got this tour, then we're taking a little bit of a hiatus from playing shows live for a multitude of reasons. One of which being that I’m pregnant and I’ve got a lot of stuff to get ready for that particular point in my life that we’re fast approaching. So I’m taking a little bit of a break from playing live, But we’re doing some writing sessions through January, February and into March. Then we’re going to be getting back in the studio and recording another record. And then just preparing for what life is going to be like come May, June, July, after the baby is here and what that’s going to look like touring-wise. We’re in slight hibernation mode but also doing a lot pre-planning for the upcoming summer,” she said.
“I’m really looking forward to bringing the band to Lethbridge and I hope that folks will come out and see the show and watch the spectacle that is Samantha Martin and Delta Sugar. I haven’t played at Southminster United Church, so I’m looking forward to how that’s going to sound, It’s going to be pretty epic, so I hope people will join us,” she said.
Samantha Martin and Delta Sugar play Southminster United Church, Thursday, Nov. 17 at 8 p.m. with special guest Steve Marriner. Tickets are $25-$45.
— by Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
