Chasing the Blues With Special Guest Samantha Fish (Hosted by Tom The Suit Forst)

On the second episode of Chasing the Blues, Tom The Suit Forst is joined by Rounder Records recording artist, American blues guitarist and singer songwriter Samantha Fish. In a special interview conducted over Zoom, the two discuss Fish's involvement in the Samantha Fish Cigar Box Festival.

Please note: According to the Festival Website, the date, originally set for January 13-16, may be pushed back to March. For more details, check the website: http://www.neworleanscbg.com

The Cigar Box Guitar Festival is a four-day event celebrating the love of music performed on the Cigar Box guitar, and other hand-made instruments, as well as the luthier craft of building such instruments. The festival combines music performances, including several performances by the Samatha Fish Band, and various builder's forums, clinics, and seminars. This is the second year that the festival has featured Samantha Fish as a premiere artist. The Cigar Box Guitar is a fan-favorite feature in Fish's live show, often used in the encore numbers.

In introducing the show and celebrating the history of the Cigar Box guitar, Tom begins by featuring an instrument called the CASK from JN Guitars, which he calls a "modern evolution of the classic cigar box guitar." Chasing the Blues would like to thank EMD Music for sending us the guitar that Tom plays in the episode, now to be a permanent Chasing the Blues on-set fixture.

As Forst explains, it was shortly after 1840, when cigars first began to be sold in wood cigar boxes, that an interest in these home made, hand made instruments was born, with people fashioning instruments out of common house hold items. Forst quotes "King of the Cigar Box" Shane Speal who said: "When poor people (during the Depression) couldn't afford an instrument, they would grab an old cigar box, a stick and some bailing wire, and they'd start making music."

By the 1930's, at the height of the Great Depression, this interest had grown into a national musical pastime, as people would often sit on their front porches, "singing the blues," playing such instruments as the Cigar Box Guitar. It was during this time, that America became familiar with the original bluesmen of the Mississippi Delta - players such as Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, and Willie Dixon. For musicians like them, the Cigar Box Guitar was often their first instrument. Other well known musicians who were known to have played a version of the instrument include Lightning Hopkins, Carl Perkins and Jimi Hendrix.

In addition to being a Cigar Box Guitar collector and a historian, Shane Speal is the founder of the Cigar Box Guitar Museum, which he began out of his 88-year old, family owned, "Speal's Tavern" in New Alexandria, PA. Shane, a passionate advocate for the home made-and made instrument movement, has performed at past incarnations of the Cigar box Festival in New Orleans. Chasing the Blues would like to thank Shane for the photographs he allowed us to use in the video, including photos of him performing, along with various instruments he has collected through the years.

Other photos we shared in this video are from the folks at C.B. Gitty Crafter's Supply, a family owned musical parts supplier from Rochester, New Hampshire, which is also a sponsor of the Cigar Box Guitar Festival.

In another special feature of this episode of Chasing the Blues, Tom visits with Clifford Smith, a guitar luthier whose shop is located at Factory Underground in Norwalk, CT. Cliff walks Tom through various features of a Cigar Box Guitar he is building, fashioned out of various parts from his shop. This includes a "White Owl" Cigar Box, which is the brand smoked by Cliff's grandfather. This part of the show has a familiar "home builders" feel, with a little bit of "American Pickers."

This latest incarnation of Chasing the Blues for YouTube is a follow up to the debut, which featured a special interview with John Oates of Hall and Oates. The podcast and video show is sponsored by Factory Underground Studio, produced and directed by Marc Alan and Ethan Isaac.

In closing the show, Forst spotlights a young band called "Similar Kind," whose latest single is called "Nobody Loves You." Tying it all together, he shares a closing quote from Willie Dixon: "If the blues are the roots, these other musics are the fruits."

http://www.ChasingtheBluesPodcast.com
http://www.FactoryUndergroundStudio.com
http://www.TomTheSuitForst.com

Chasing the Blues Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2IMknVFRRZrQMb0iMMTksn?si=DjRIi7NORf-3QgFDm8L6-Q

Similar Kind on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/4hlQeZJV29wKrTPLmqXkab?si=O25bF5sNSL6Da6VswSKEMA