Samantha Crain and Ali Harter: Mercury Lounge Tulsa
December 1st, 2019 - Samantha Crain headlined the Mercury Lounge Tulsa with support from the wonderful Ali Harter. The two, native Oklahoma singer-songwriters, put on a show that did not disappoint those in attendance on a Sunday night.
Ali Harter | All Photos By Melissa Payne
Ali Harter, from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is an artist that has shone as a solo musician for over fifteen years. Harter won the 2012 Comanche Casino Idol, where she earned the chance to sing with Garth Brooks’ long-time guitar player, Ty England. She has also earned the Woody Guthrie Award for ‘Best New Singer-Songwriter.’
Harter’s set included original tunes, “Mostly Bad,” “Brandi and Joe,” and a cover of Carter Sampson’s “I Don’t Want Him.” The set also included “Untitled No. 3,” which was featured in episode 16, “Little Accident,” of season six on the ABC show, Grey’s Anatomy.
Ali has experienced the highs and lows that come with the music industry. She has also had to deal with and overcome personal issues as well. The loss of her father resulted in dark times for the young singer-songwriter. She had a battle with depression that led to drinking and resulted in her being kicked off NBC’s The Voice, numerous canceled shows, and an abandoned album. Harter took the past couple years, stepped away from music, focused on her family and healing. Ali is back on track, though she has stated that this album will be her last. We hope that isn’t the case, as we very much enjoy the music of Ali Harter and wish her the best with whatever decisions that she makes in regards to her music career. For more about Ali, check out her Pigs Fly Shop. pigsflyshop.com
Samantha Crain
Shawnee, Oklahoma native, Samantha Crain, headlined the Friday night show on the Mercury Lounge stage. Crain is an extraordinary poet and songwriter who has a unique folk music sound. Inspired by greats such as Bob Dylan and Oklahoma’s own Woody Guthrie, Crain is one of the top songwriters in the state of Oklahoma and beyond.
Crain is a proud Choctaw-American and has won two Native American Music Awards in 2009 for Folk Album of the Year and Songwriter of the Year. Most recently, in 2019, she also won the Indigenous Music Award for Best Rock Album.
Attending a Samantha Crain show is truly like watching poetry in motion. It is an absolutely amazing musical and literary experience. Her debut EP was re-released in 2008 via Ramseur Records, The Confiscation EP: A Musical Novella. An album of songs based on five short stories written by Crain. Crain released her first full length album, Songs in the Night, with her band, the Midnight Shivers, which brought high praise from such magazines as Paste and Rolling Stone. Her most recent album, released in 2017, and her fifth full-length production, You Had Me At Goodbye, is a fully analog recording with wind and string instruments. The album also features the tune “Red Sky, Blue Mountain,” which is entirely written and sung in the Choctaw language.
This night at the Mercury Lounge featured stories from both Samantha and Ali, about touring and performing together. It wasn’t uncommon for a story to start and then an artist (not on stage) to holler from the far corner of the Merc to fill in whatever pieces were missing from the story being told by the two on stage. Ali’s set wasn’t without some nerves, as she explained to the audience she’d been out of the game for a couple of years. Within a few songs, Ali seemed to get back into her groove, telling the stories behind the songs and subsequently making the audience laugh with her outrageous stories. Once Samantha took the stage, the audience began singing along, at times calling out favorites, hoping their request would be played. Both of these talented women were a delight to watch and listen to, and by listening to their stories, I learned so much more about them than I had before.
Ali Harter:
Samantha Crain:
facebook.com/Samanthacrainmusic/
Photos By Melissa Payne: