Toronto based songwriter Samantha Martin has found her musical groove in gospel and blues music.
She returns to Lethbridge for the first time in two years with her band Delta Sugar to play the Geomatic Attic, March 8.
“The last time I was in Lethbridge was about two years ago and I was competing against a big festival, so don’t remember being a lot of people. We played the Slice and it was a great show though,” she said.
“The Geomatic Attic is more of a listening room though,” she observed.
Since then she has released a new album “ Send the Nightingale” and received four Maple Blues Nominations for it Best new group, best album producer, best female vocalist and best songwriter.
“ We didn’t win any of them. The Maple Blues awards are nominated by the membership and then it is a fan vote, so it basically becomes a popularity contest. And we were up against people like Colin Linden and Angel Forrest and people who have been around for years,” she said, adding the best part of the nominations is the doors they opened.
“We‘ll be back in the summer. We’re playing the Canmore and Edmonton Folk Festivals because of the nominations. So it really is an honour to just be nominated and there’s always next year,” she said.
She is excited about the new band, which highlights vocals.
“I have the same guitarist as the last time I was here — Mikey McCallum and two singers, Sherie Marshall and Stacy Tabb and drummer Dani Nash. Her name is Danielle but everyone calls her Dani. It’s really Staples Singersish,” she described.
“All music comes from the blues. There is a lot of gospel too. I really feel like I’ve found the music that is best for my voice. It’s a whiskey soaked voice that translates well to the blues and gospel music,” she said, noting she has been listening to a lot of old blues and gospel including Leon Bridges and the music coming out of Alabama.
She is excited to return to Lethbridge.
“I’ll be doing two sets. A mix of covers and a originals and a lot of songs from the new record and a some older songs I wrote with the Haggard,” she said.
She is beginning work on new songs, though none of them are ready to be performed yet.
“We’ll start prepping a new album before the summer. I’d like to release it in 2016 or 2017. But don’t hold me to it,” she chuckled, adding she usually doesn’t play songs in front of audiences before they are on an album.
“I don’t want people to be bored with an album by the time it comes out. I wouldn’t want them to be bored,“ she said.
Samantha Martin and Delta Sugar play the Geomatic Attic at 8 p.m., March 8 tickets cost $30 .
