Samantha Martin and her band Delta Sugar return to Winnipeg’s West End Cultural Centre on Feb. 25, in advance of multiple new releases blending blues, soul and contemporary pop styles. Martin previously played in Manitoba during the 2014 Winnipeg Folk Festival and the 2016 Winnipeg BBQ and Blues Festival. Despite changes in Martin’s personal life and the world around her, she is getting back on the road. She proves to fans and to herself that she is still the same natural performer at heart.
“I’m not the kind of person that can write about current heartbreak. It’s always about past stuff so I know it didn’t break me,” Martin said. “I know the optimistic undertone that needs to be there to make it […] lighthearted.”
“I’m still pulling out [and] harvesting a lot of gems from failed relationships,” Martin described her songwriting. “It’s the gift that keeps on giving.”
Martin performed while six months pregnant during her previous tour in 2022, and her upcoming shows across Canada will be the first time she has been away from her toddler for more than a day at a time. She described her last three years raising her baby as wonderful but more tiring than her years as a touring act have ever been.
“Getting back out on the road is like getting back to me, as an individual outside of being a mom, and so I’m definitely excited for that,” Martin described.
“I haven’t lost who I am at my core,” she added. “The things that brought me joy prior to being a mom still bring me joy, I just have to carve out more time for it.”
The COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns were also a struggle for Martin. Her extensive touring in 2019 led her to abandon her apartment due to spending such little time at home, leaving her without a place to live leading up to 2020. She spent the start of the decade excited for new music, but the feeling turned into melancholic turmoil. Martin’s genre-bending comes from the music of her upbringing and a curiosity to discover where the artists she heard on rotation drew their own influences from. Throughout Martin’s childhood, her mother was a fan of Janis Joplin, the Rolling Stones and other rock music topping charts of the era.
Meanwhile, Martin’s older father was a hobby guitarist who leaned toward outlaw country and the Beatles. Martin’s own curiosity led her to find classic blues artists like Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters who influenced the music her parents enjoy. Her grandparents also collected Floridian Black gospel CDs from their winter vacations, adding another dimension to Martin’s scope.
Upon showing an interest in music, her father taught her to play the guitar. She would sing along with the vocalists she admired and came to blend their styles together, which became her catalyst for discovering the musician she wanted to be.
Martin is set to release a new studio album in early 2027, her first since The Reckless One in 2020. In the meantime, a spotlighted live recording from a previous tour will also be available for fans to hear soon.
“So much has happened since the last time I recorded a record,” Martin said. “We’ll release this and remind people […] I’m still here, I exist, and I’m pretty good at what I do.”
