Wednesday Video Spotlight: Samantha Crain “It’s Simple”
Shawnee singer-songwriter Samantha Crain has released this video for her song “It’s Simple.” The video is part of the “Be Nice to Your Kids” series from Delo Creative. This installment was sponsored by Dwelling Spaces.
“A Simple Jungle,” Crain’s three-track EP that features “It’s Simple,” was recently listed among Amazon.com’s Editor Picks for top MP3 albums of 2012.
Crain will be featured at the Feb. 19 Winter Wind Concert in the Norman Depot, 200 S Jones Ave. Tickets are $15 for the 7:00 pm concert. Refreshments will be served.
Having been raised in rural Shawnee may have influenced Crain’s quirky, earthy interpretation of folk music as much as her father’s record collection, which included Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead. But the young Crain was even more taken with the music of her home state, from the rootsy Americana of Woody Guthrie to the sonic experiments of the Flaming Lips.
After graduating from Dale High School, Crain enrolled at Oklahoma Baptist University, where she spent several semesters working toward a degree in English literature before registering for a semester-long songwriting retreat at Martha’s Vineyard.
That retreat allowed Crain to transform herself into a songwriter with a knack for narrative storytelling. When she returned home, she decided to pursue a career in music instead of returning to college.
Crain’s first pressed collection of songs, “The Confiscation,” is a concept album based around five short stories Crain had written involving the themes of redemption and betrayal. Ramseur Records took notice of this self-released EP, as well as a work schedule which saw Crain crisscrossing the country with guitar in tow, and ultimately offered her a spot on the label, reissuing “The Confiscation” in July 2007 as her Ramseur debut.
Crain’s first LP with the Midnight Shivers was the April 2009 release “Songs in the Night.” The album release was followed with an NPR Weekend Edition feature and favorable reviews from Paste magazine, the Washington Post, woxy.com, and emusic.com.
After the Midnight Shivers disbanded, Crain released her second full-length LP, “You (Understood),” in June 2010.
All three of her albums have made my top 10 albums list their respective years.
“Samantha Crain writes folk music, but she belts out notes like she’s singing R&B. Her rich alto seems to have no bottom, and the sound of it against her bare guitar is enough to raise gooseflesh” writes Rolling Stone.
Winter Wind Concerts are produced by The Performing Arts Studio and made possible in part by grants from the Norman Arts Council, the Oklahoma Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.
For more information on Crain’s Winter Wind Concert, go to www.pasnorman.org or www.TicketStorm.com.
-BAM
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