Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton push blues boundaries with Grammy nomination

Imagine fulfilling a lifetime dream of being nominated for a Grammy award and you’re one of the last people to know. That was the case for Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton, who were nominated for “Best Contemporary Blues Album.”

“We were both on the Big Easy Cruise. We were on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean,” said Samantha. “You’re hard pressed to get information out there anyway, but my phone wifi worked and I just started blowing up with congratulations messages from our manager and just a bunch of people who found out before we did.”

“I kind of freaked out honestly,” adds Dayton. “I started getting texts from, I won’t drop any names, but straight up rock star friends of mine who don’t normally text me started texting me, and I was like, that’s weird. And one guy said, ‘Bring it on home.’ And I didn’t know what he was talking about. Another friend of mine was like, ‘I’m so happy for you.” Jesse told Blues Rock Review, “It was like your birthday times a thousand.”

It’s the first Grammy nomination for both artists.

“It’s kind of shocking,” said Fish. “Jesse and I put a lot of love into this record, and it’s a really special record, and I’m just happy people are recognizing it.”

Both Samantha and Jesse plan to attend the Grammys in Los Angeles.

“I think we’d be lying if we said we didn’t want to win because we’re both pretty competitive,” said Dayton. “Strangely enough, not competitive with one another, but everyone outside our thing we want to do well. And I’ve never met anyone who really had it going on who wasn’t like that.”

“It’s a little surreal because it’s something that’s always been floating in the atmosphere,” says Samantha. “It’d be a wonderful gift. It’d be something great, just one of the highest honors I think for a musician who puts out and records music is to be recognized by the Grammys.”

“I just kind of compartmentalized it and put it out of my mind,” says Dayton. “I’ve been considered on quite a few records, made it to the first round, but never took it this far. But, you know, back when we were talking about “best contemporary blues,” Samantha and I have both been pretty genre bending, and I think that’s because we intentionally want to try to push this thing forward and make it interesting for us at the very least where we’re not just doing the same thing.”

Dayton adds, “I feel like the stars are kind of aligned because it’s “best contemporary blues” and because me and Samantha went in with Jon Spencer knowing, hey, we’re not going to do the Stevie Ray Vaughan guitar with the John Bonham drums and the ’90s thing. We’re going to take this to another place, but it’s still going to be blues based.”

With the success of Death Wish Blues, fans are wondering if there will be a part 2.

“We always said because people started asking us that before the record even came out is there going to be a Death Wish Part 2 and it’s, like, well, we have to see if they like Death Wish Part 1, but I think they liked the first part 1. This is an indication of that,” says Samantha. “We both have things coming up for our solo careers, but I’m not ruling it out and I just don’t know when it would happen, but we obviously have a good musical chemistry, so you never know.”

Dayton is set to release a solo album in 2024.

“It’s a record that Shooter Jennings produced and Shooter is riding a big wave right now.” Dayton adds, “It’s got a lot of blues rock stuff on it.”

Fish is currently writing for her next solo album but adds, “Jesse and I are going to be doing some touring together and it’s just kind of like the never ending tour circuit, but we’re going to some very cool places. There’s another Australia tour on the books, we’re looking at going back to the UK and Europe and that’s always so much fun. And then just extensive touring of the states and North America, possibly South America. There’s a lot of doors to open.”

The Grammys take place February 4th, 2024 in Los Angeles.