A New Sound to Folk Music

Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers Author: Mindy Wood
Issue: 2008 March

Shawnee just might be home to a folk music festival of its own someday. Okemah is home of the Woody Guthrie folk music festival but Samantha Crain may be the inspiration for one right here in town where she is taking a break from touring.

Crain has a musical style all her own with lyrics that depict a crisp reality. “I take a lot from the folk tradition, but as a band we provide a lot of experimental uses of instruments too. I think of people who play country and folk but I’m not afraid to plug in the electric guitar.”

Though she didn’t start playing seriously until after high school, Crain said her dad was the one who exposed her to great music. “I grew up around a lot of good music but I didn’t get into writing my own music and performing until I went to college.”

Her father, Rickey Crain of Crain’s Muscle World, said, “For only 21 she has such a grasp on life already. I’ve been a musician for 40 plus years and her songs seem so realistic. They remind me of the folk songs of the 60s and 70s.”

Crain attended three semesters at OBU where she learned to play the guitar before going on to the Contemporary Music Center on Martha’s Vineyard. “It’s a colony where about thirty college age students live for five or six months to hone in on songwriting, performing and recording,” she said. “I saw a lot of people there who were making a living, however meager, being full time musicians. That’s probably where I got more serious about writing songs. When I got back home I dove in head first, thinking ‘how can I make this work?’”

Amazingly the young musician handled the booking arrangements herself. “Luckily, I had a knack for the booking end of things,” said Crain. “I had a lot of help from people, telling me how to go about doing it.” She laughed. “I feel like I’ve majored in booking and touring because my head is like a giant directory of venues and contacts all across the United States!”

Crain says her experiences on tour have been an education she couldn’t have studied in any class. “Something happens when you’re thrown out, living in a van for two years. You get to meet so many people and it’s like a college lecture every time you meet someone new. They all have different experiences, different views on the world and humanity and it’s really interesting to talk to them about those things. Whatever knowledge I didn’t learn in college, I feel like I have taken from touring and more.”

She also admits it can be tough out on the road. “Most of the time I’m gung ho about doing this, but sometimes I just want to go back to the part of me that wants to be a farmer the rest of my life!”

It was hard for her parents as well. Crain noted, “I can’t imagine what kind of things were going on in their brain. Your nineteen-year-old daughter wants to travel around the country. But they’re a lot more comfortable with it now that I’ve been doing it for a while. I think my dad has gotten into it more because he understands it takes hard work. The businessman in him appreciates that.”

Rickey Crain believes Samantha is up for the challenge. “She has the talent and the tools and the passion to do it.” He knows the business from his time as a musician as well as his brother, who still performs. He admits that it’s not easy letting his daughter embark on the journey. “It is hard. But then I realize that her father and her uncle did much the same thing so I have to back off and let her find her own path. I am more than impressed with what she has accomplished so far.”

Samantha Crain has completed two albums, one self titled and her latest, “The Confiscation EP.” She plans to be back on tour this summer. For a schedule of upcoming shows or to check out the sounds of Samantha Crain & The Midnight Shivers visit her online at www.myspace.com/samanthacrain.

Shawnee Outlook