GIRL POWER TO GRACE BROADBEACH BLUES

WORDS: Steve Hunt PHOTOGRAPHY Supplied

Samantha and Jesse will provide an exciting collision of sounds

If you’re into a ‘collision’ of sounds, as American blues guitarist Samantha Fish describes, then her live pairing with Jesse Dayton at this year’s Blues on Broadbeach sounds like a real treat.

Drawing off their ‘Death Wish Blues’ album, Dayton and Fish have fused traditional blues with rock’n’roll and good old-fashioned punk to create a sound that one could argue might be better served at a Big Day Out than a blues and roots festival.

Fish and Dayton’s performance in Broadbeach is likely to be one of the highlights as they, in Sam’s own words, meld worlds of music together in a ‘collision of sounds’. “The show is really exciting – we take the listener on a really big trip,” Fish tells me in an interview earlier this year.

“Our music is all over the map, fusing soul, pop hooks and melodies, rock’n’roll – all different styles of music that ultimately drawback to blues roots. “It’s about connecting people – seeking out real connections from a variety of genres – we meld different musical worlds together.

“And our new record is what the show is going to be like.” Fish is one of a growing number of female artists taking the blues world by storm – they will be gracing the Gold Coast’s shores from 16-19 May.

These include rising star Ana Popovic who forged her career in an unlikely location – Serbia of all places. In yet another example that blues has transcended all corners of the globe since it was first exported from the southern US by the English, Popovic has carved out a career that began in small bars in Serbia, expanded into Europe and then to the US where she now resides.

It’s certainly been a journey – releasing the first of her 11 albums in 2001 with Hush – and culminating in the emotionally charged and aptly named ‘Power’ in early 2023, inspired by her diagnosis with breast cancer in 2020.

“It was a very personal and emotional record,” says the 47-year-old who is now in remission. “I was diagnosed with cancer during Covid and I had lost my mum to breast cancer only two years earlier,” Popovic tells ORM.

“The writing at the time gave me so much power – was able to reflect on the bad times and now I look back and realise the healing power that music has.” Both Fish and Popovic will lead arguably the best female blues cast seen at Blues on Broadbeach, headed by American singer Melissa Ethridge.

Blues On Broadbeach 16-19 May 2024 Visit: www.bluesonbroadbeach.com