The Stardust Sessions, the first product of SAMANTHA FISH‘s and JESSE DAYTON‘s excting new musical partnership, is now available.
We have described the bubbly-blonde, silver-screen, sassy-siren’s range and power of voice as ‘impressive’ and her slide guitar-conjuring as glower and mystique…
And the joint writing/recording session between Fish + Dayton is just the beginning of what deserves to be an thrilling and successful musical endeavour. They had in mind a fusion of alt-rock and ferocious blues. They jammed on some tunes that reflected this musical approach on the final day of activity in a New Orleans studio, eager to hear how their vocals and guitars blended.
pounding bass, a frantic rhythm, energising vocals, and blazing guitar playing. Magic!
Raw Ramp Music Mag
So they let the tape roll, and the surprising outcome was “The Stardust Sessions.” The pair recorded Brand New Cadillac, (music video shared below) a number that was made famous by The Clash but actually written in the late 1950s by Vince Taylor. Their blues-rock rendition contains a pounding bass, a frantic rhythm, energising vocals, and blazing guitar playing. Magic!
During the sessions, the pair also recorded I’ll Be Here in The Morning by Townes Van Zandt, and Feelin’ Good by Magic Sam.
Joining them in the studio were bassist Austin Clements (Omari Neville), and drummer Mike Dillon (Rickie Lee Jones, Les Claypool Garage Jazz Band), with Rueben Williams acting as producer. “The Stardust Sessions” will precede a full-length album containing ten new original songs written by the pair, to be produced by the legendary Jon Spencer. This album, “Death Wish Blues,” will be released in late spring via Rounder Records.
This December, the wild-blues partnership will hit the ground running, with a high-speed tour with a first stop at Bakersfield, followed by a concert at LA’s famed Whiskey-A-Go Go on December 4th. This show will be live-streamed; tickets are available to buy from Mandolin here
Fish and Dayton plan on unleashing the three new cover songs in concert as well as unveiling several of new tunes that will see the light of day upon the release of “Death Wish Blues.”
Samantha Fish is a celebrated singer, composer, and lead guitarist who has published six albums throughout the course of an illustrious career. 2019’s Faster and 2021’s Kill or Be Kind were both issued on Rounder Records.
“It’s not pure rock and roll, it’s not pure blues, it’s not pure soul, it’s not pure pop — it’s a mixture of everything,” says Fish about her genre-defying music, which has frequently led her abroad. Fish travels extensively, giving 200 performances each year both nationally and overseas.
Since he launched his debut album in 1995, Jesse Dayton has been introducing the world to his distinctive fusion of punk rock, old-school country, and East Texas/Louisiana blues.
After thirteen albums, he continues to be a mainstay on the Americana Radio and Outlaw Country lists on SiriusXM, where his debut LP, titled ‘Raising Cain’ reached Number 1.
Jesse’s career reads like a veritable ‘who’s who’ of American popular music. He’s toured with Social Distortion, Supersuckers, George Strait, Ryan Bingham, and L.A. punk pioneers X and has recorded with legends such as Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell, and Willie Nelson. He has also recorded three soundtracks for filmmaker Rob Zombie. One can read about Dayton’s storied past in his 2022 memoir, Beaumonster.
Grab this new EP digitally here
Main photo: © Skyler Smith