Hotel Cafe Tour: Meet Samantha Crain
The much anticipated Hotel Cafe Tour begins its whirlwind US tour Thursday night in Santa Barbara, California. Great performances from the likes of Meiko, Jaymay, Emily Wells and more will launch the tour billed as "one bus, one band and a bunch of friends on the road." This road trip will cover 34 cities wrapping up in Los Angeles November 18.
November 1, the bus will roll into Brooklyn, New York and I'll bring you behind the scenes just past the midway point of the series. One of the artists on that bill is Shawnee, Oklahoma native Samantha Crain. The folk pop and soul singer will break away from her current tour promoting the release of her EP "The Confiscation," she will hook up with the Hotel Cafe ladies in Florida later this month.
Her official bio says, "Sometimes music is a collision of opposites. Realities clash and coexist, and the tension that results is scary and strange, but undeniably beautiful. Maybe that's why Samantha Crain and her band, the Midnight Shivers embody so many conflicting unities and clashing identities. With a blow-your-hair-back vocal presence that occasionally yields to whisper-soft vulnerability, Samantha Crain unites the sounds of confidence and desperation. These colliding realities stem most notably from Crain's unlikely artistic heritage, which she wears on her sleeve but just as readily transcends. Hailing from the state that birthed both The Flaming Lips and Woody Guthrie, Samantha Crain writes with both the brazen conviction of the latter and the unflinching creative ambition of the former. Hers is a folk tradition indebted to Radiohead as much as Bob Dylan.Her shadowy arrangements and razor-sharp lyrics blur whatever superficial lines of genre or aesthetic may seem to separate these influences. It seems whatever the ingredients, she has a place for them in her inexplicable artistic recipe.Her sound is deeply rural and southern, but also itinerant and urban."
She also speaks her mind freely.
She was invited to be a part of the Hotel Cafe Tour and her agent told her it was a good opportunity. "I don't really know much about it and i hope it's not a diva tour. I hope the girls are just good, real musicians on a tour together."
In addition to a great line up of musicians, the tour will give back to the community by raising awareness and money for the United Nations Population Fund and Amnesty International's "Stop Violence Against Women Campaign."
Samantha is all for promoting causes, but is cynical on the increasing popularity of adding causes to events. "...I can't speak too much on the topic because I'm still very conflicted internally over the issue of people supporting causes like this because it's just cool and trendy or because they really want to help. I could be blown completely away by the amount of energy they put into the causes but my cynical side right now thinks it might just have been an afterthought. But I just have to wait with an open mind and see. I don't mind changing my mind and looking like a fool. It's what makes us grow and understand new things."
But does her cynicism make its way into her music? "I don't think it reigns too apparent but I think it's only because, in a lot of my songs, I'm creating mantras to try and talk myself out of being so cynical or so weak or so singular...so, I guess because I'm cynical, my songs have become a way of talking myself into a different way of thinking. I admire people that have a little more hope and a little more sunshine in their outlook...I think the mantras are working. I'm not quite as cynical as I used to be."
I'm going to try and get her tips when I see her in Brooklyn!
Here's an interesting short video with more on Samantha and her music.
I had to go add this- she is crazy talented. I will keep my eye on her. I want a cd!
Reply to this