We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Samantha Presley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Samantha , thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I knew I wanted to make music straight out of the womb. I grew up surrounded by music, my parents actually met at an Alice Cooper concert in the 80’s. My dad is from Lebanon and had no idea who Alice Cooper was, he thought he was a girl from the name! My mom has always been a rock ‘n’ roll roller, and began taking me to concerts as early as the second grade. It’s still our thing that we love to do together today. My grandfather on my dad’s side was a pastor, and I used to have to go to church every week where they sung in Arabic. I could sing every word, even though I don’t speak the language, and I loved being surrounded by all of the harmonies. I knew at that time that I also liked making my own songs and I had notebooks full of different songs. I wrote as a little girl. I guess it was never something I really had to think about, it was just in my heart and I knew I was going to always surround myself with it.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Samantha Presley and I was born and raised in Southern California for most of my life. After living in Hollywood, briefly at the age of 19, I decided that I needed to move on and see more of the states and create music outside of my little bubble. I had met some really great musicians from the Midwest, and we all decided to take the chance and move to Arizona and then Ohio together. In Ohio we formed a band called Shotgun Wedding and I absolutely loved playing live with a full band. The energy is unmatched. I later decided to go back to school, leading me to move away from the band. For a long time I stopped playing music. Had a couple of kids, moved to Georgia, and decided it was time to get back on the horse. Both of my kids are special needs, which made it difficult to be able to commit to a band. So for the very first time, I decided to give it a go completely on my own. It was such an amazing and humbling and exhilarating experience. I met a producer, Tyler Davis, who helped me not only build and write the music portion of my songs, but who supported me throughout the whole process and helped me learn so much about being in Studio. In March of this year, I released my very first solo album, Soul Snatcher. I am so proud of the work that I have done. It is not one genre, I kind of bounce around and I think that is what makes me different. We are told that we need to pick a category to put ourselves in to get the most exposure. That is absolutely not true. All music is connected, and if the music connects with people, it doesn’t really matter what it is categorized as.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The absolute most rewarding thing about being an artist is seeing others relate to my songs and hearing their stories. Seeing young women make TikTok’s to my songs when they relate and dancing around makes my heart so happy. Another huge rewarding part of this entire process was getting to meet super talented musicians that I respect and getting them to do some tracks with me. I know I’ve done good when they’re pumped and stomping their feet to the beat and getting down with guitar solos. That helped with me really missing being in a band setting, being able to work with musicians in the studio and still recieve that interaction. Honestly, writing music has always been my version of therapy. Reflecting on my own feelings and thoughts, and expressing them out loud. That in of itself is just a personal reward that needs no outside validation
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Support local artists! It’s not as hard as it sounds, and doesn’t always take monetary value to do so. If you can go and support them at a live show, that is amazing. Bring friends! If you aren’t able to go support live, it’s a simple click, and share of a post. It cost nothing to repost a flyer, a song, a fundraiser, Spotify link,whatever they’ve got going on. Not only does it help them reach a broader audience, but it also shows us you’re digging what we’re putting out there.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6CILvRhnoTkHVxpJJwVe41?si=IIjd460sQxCPFXMAoVJ7HQ
- Instagram: @samshinenwhiskey
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/12JbQYVNra1/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@samanthapresley?si=gS1WMm0aIsM_TeRk
- Other: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/samantha-presley/1724486282
Image Credits
Jon Carrillo
Tyler Davis
Jake Cox