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WEHM All Access - EHM Breakfast Show w/ Harry 9.3.26 Interview - G.E. Smith & Samantha Fish · WEHM All Access

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: It's the Agent Breakfast Show with Harry coming up this Saturday night.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_02: Something fun to do out at Guild Hall.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_02: It's uh the return of G.E.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_02: Smith's portraits series, this time around with Samantha Fish, and we're joined by G.E.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_02: and Samantha on the virtual line, so to speak.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_02: How are you both doing?
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_02: Real good.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, doing great.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_02: Very good.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_02: It's nice that you're coming on the show, I should say.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I appreciate you being a part of this as we get ready for Saturday night out of Guild Hall.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_02: And first off, I guess uh GE, for people that don't know the portrait series was kind of the brainchild of your wife Taylor Barton.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_03: That's absolutely right.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_03: She thought of this 10, 12 years ago.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_03: And because there's so many well-known people that live out here on the on the East End of Long Island, and a lot of them are known as actors, painters, whatever, writers, but they played music too.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_03: So that was the way we started, is we would get people like we had um uh uh Kevin Bacon, you know, and his brother, the Bacon brothers band, and um, you know, people like that.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_03: And it's just been really fun.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_03: And then sometimes we just like to do real musicians too, just to do a good show.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_03: That's why we wanted to hook up with Samantha.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm curious, have you guys worked together before or have you have you met?
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: Nope.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: Oh wow.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_03: Nope, I haven't met.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that's exciting.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: Saturday night.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_02: Samantha, what's it like to uh kind of get the call?
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_02: And what did you think about when you were invited for the portrait series?
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I was I was really, really excited.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I any opportunity to stretch out and do something different than your norm, I think is like an exciting challenge for any artist and and to get to play with, you know, a legend like TE and his wonderful band.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm honored and I'm really excited.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: No, this will be great.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_02: So where did you then where did you grow up, Samantha?
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: Kansas City.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's where I'm originally from.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I've been in New Orleans for about 10 years.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my goodness.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: How did you when did you first start uh start doing music?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: I imagine you probably came from a musical family.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, I started playing guitar around 15.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: My dad played guitar in the basement, my mom sang in church, you know.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: So it was one of those things that was like music, it was always sort of around.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, though I didn't like grow up in like the clubs, and I I kind of came to that later, you know, uh in my later teen years, like going around Kansas City looking for people to play with.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you know, it was just it was kind of a natural thing, I think.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_02: What did what drew you to the blues as a teenager?
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, all my heroes that in rock and roll really, I mean, you just kind of come to this realization at some point, if you like to look at look at who people are inspired by and look at the history of music, you come to this realization that really everybody comes from, you know, in some way, like the blues, you know, they're they're heroes, you know, like Keith Richards' heroes, and you know, and I was just kind of going down the rabbit hole.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and and I think growing up in Kansas City also helped push me more in that direction, too, just you know, because if I wanted to go out and play with anybody, I really had to learn something in the tradition because Kansas City traditionally is like a jazz and a blues town, you know, that and like just finding little pockets of certain regional sounds that I really connected with.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like I really love that North Mississippi kind of fat possum roster sound and Delta Blues and just just a myriad things that help me connect.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: It sounds like it now.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_02: Saturday night out of Guild Hall, it's uh GE Smith's portraits with uh Smith of Fish and Grab Tickets at guildhall.org.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh GE, how do you put together the nights and how does it change from artist to artist?
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_03: Taylor really puts this stuff together.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_03: She thinks of things and then she runs it by me, you know.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_03: And and when she says Samantha, I'm like, why haven't we thought of that before?
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_03: Because I think, even though I'm a lot older, we both come from the same place.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_03: Samantha mentioned Keith Richards when I was a kid and the Stones came out.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_03: I would read the, you know, the album covers back in those days, you know, the vinyl.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_03: And you'd read the album cover.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_03: And they always, the Stones, Mick and Keats and everybody in the band, they always mentioned Hallen Wolf and Muddy Waters and Elmore James and people like that.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_03: So then I started getting those records, you know, when I was 11, 12 years old.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_03: I was getting going out of the the the record shop and ordering those records and opened up a whole world.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: Now, this will this will be great Saturday nights.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I was reading that uh Buddy Guy actually uh has a pretty instrumental role in your career, Samantha Fish.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: What was it like to meet him and then kind of perform with him?
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's been like the first time I played with Buddy, I barely remember it because I was so nervous and it was such a surreal experience.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, ever since I was a kid, really like coming out of Kansas City, I started grassroots, which like I had a local schedule and then a regional schedule, like one of my first deals was to go to Chicago.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, um I I remember getting the van and going through there, and and and we we got this call to perform at one point.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't get to sit in with him till you know a couple years later.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean, there's something about playing with Buddy, he's just such a conversationalist, and I feel like I learn a lot.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: He came through New Orleans last week, and I actually got to go sit in with him there, and it's just like it's never a moment because he's not just playing, he's like talking the guitar and it's a conversation.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I find that like that's my favorite kind of uh you know, musical collaborative situation to be in, like when you're just when you're really just having a nice open conversation, he just at that.
• 5:20
  unknown: Yeah.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: Now I it's funny, I've heard about that.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: And it's it's it's great that he takes interest in younger musicians too and really kind of mentors them and kind of gives them um some wise words uh and and encouragement along the way.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_03: Samantha, did did Buddy tell you the story about Muddy Waters buying him a sandwich?
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Is it the ham sandwich story or the below?
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_03: Like when when Buddy first comes to Chicago and he's broke and he's on the street and he stands outside of Muddy's gig and Muddy comes out and he introduces himself and and and Muddy says, You look hungry, and he buys him a sandwich.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Well they serve sandwiches, they serve sandwiches at Buddy Guys for years, I'm pretty sure.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: Just because that story.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_03: For sure.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_03: That's pretty true.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_03: For sure.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_03: When I used to do the um the Saturday Night Live band, I used to invite guitar players that were passing through New York City to come and sit in with us.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_03: And one time I invited Buddy, and he came and he really liked the band.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_03: So we actually made a record.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, so I've gotten to play with Buddy too.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_03: We did two nights in New York and two nights in Chicago at his place and recorded them, and and you know, cherry picked the best stuff and put out a record.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_03: It was a long time ago, you know.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_03: Uh it's called The Real Deal.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_03: So I've gotten to play with Buddy, and he's he's a great, great human being.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_03: I love him.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_02: Gee, what are you uh what are you working on right now?
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: Anything new coming?
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I've been working on these Samantha Fish songs, I tell you that.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_03: For sure.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: You want to know Saturday.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_03: As uh as Bob Dylan said, you want to know your song well before you start singing, you know.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_03: Working on that, and then uh there's a bunch of things coming up, but um, this is the one I'm focused on right now.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_02: Perfect.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Saturday night at Guild Hall.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Samantha Fish and uh GE Smith's uh portraits, part of this great series.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_02: You can grab tickets at guildhall.org.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: Samantha, what are you working on right now?
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: Right now, right now I'm just currently writing and uh preparing for what comes.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: I've got a coming up that's got a little bit of a summer break, really just kind of gearing up for the second half of the year, which we really tend to hit it pretty hard.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: But um, I've been writing.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you know, I've got some I've got some things in the air that trying to trying to pull them down to the ground, you know.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see what we catch.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_02: We look forward to it.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: We see what comes in the future.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_02: And we look forward to Saturday night, 8 o'clock, Guild Hall, uh, Main Street in East Hampton, guildhall.org, GE Smith and Samantha Fish.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for your time.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: I really appreciate you coming on.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Harry.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you very much.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and we look forward to uh Saturday nights.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_02: Grab tickets, guildhall.org.