Today’s song is “I Like Girls” by Samantha Sidley. The Los Angeles, California native is a jazz vocalist and she likes girls.
Sidley has been singing since she was young. “My whole life was a song,” Sidley says of her childhood. “If I looked at a tree, it was a song. If I felt happy, sad, joy, it was a song. When I first heard Judy Garland in ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ I remember thinking: ‘I understand.’ I’ve always considered myself an interpreter, which is sort of and undervalued art form. I like to take a song and make the story true for me.”
Sidley soon discovered Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday, soul music in general, and her own personal “soulfulness” itself. You know, like all seven-year-olds do. Later, considering how annoyed 11-year-old Sidley was when her vocal instructor wouldn’t allow her to sing Holiday’s “Lover Man (Oh Where Can You Be)” at her first recital, it all made perfect sense.
A decade later, Sidley got to sing whatever she wanted, performing at NYC’s legendary Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel, where she lived in Dorothy Parker’s room, listened to a lot of Anita O’Day and Ella Fitzgerald, and landed a rave review in The New York Times.
“I like Girls” is the opening track on her debut album Interior Person out September 13th on Release Me Records.
It is an unassuming anthem, a future standard for an evolving culture. It’s also a fun and funny ice-breaker that you’ll sing along with. It is an ode to all the important girls in her life.
These other “girls” include fellow musicians Inara George, Alex Lilly, and Sidley’s “Top One” favorite musician of all-time, her wife, Barbara Gruska.
“Inara and Alex and Barbara wrote songs that are all very personal to my story – they literally are my story – and from my lesbian perspective, which I appreciate so much,” Sidley says. In addition to co-writing many of the songs here, and playing drums (masterfully) on many of the tracks, Gruska also produced Interior Person in a studio constructed in Sidley’s childhood bedroom.
“She knows exactly how I express myself and what my intentions are,” Sidley says of her working relationship with Gruska. “Collaborating on this record has actually been a much longer collaboration of us getting to know each other.”
With just a few notes I was instantly drawn into this song. Sidley’s beautiful and sassy vocals make this jazzy number something to be enjoyed.
Listen below and for more information check out her official website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter pages.
Samantha Sidley Dates
08/11/2019: St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club (TIX)
08/12/2019: Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village (TIX)
08/13/2019: Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern (TIX)
08/14/2019: Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre (TIX)
08/15/2019: Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre (TIX)
08/16/2019: Philadelphia, PA @ World Café Live (TIX)
08/17/2019: Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere (TIX)
08/19/2019: Rehoboth Beach, DE @ Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
08/20/2019: Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle (TIX)
08/21/2019: Atlanta, GA @ Aisle 5 (TIX)
08/22/2019: Birmingham, AL @ The Saturn (TIX)
08/24/2019: Dallas, TX @ Trees (TIX)
08/25/2019: Austin, TX @ Parish (TIX)
08/28/2019: Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom (TIX)
08/29/2019: San Diego, CA @ Casbah (TIX)
08/30/2019: San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop (TIX)